Deer also contract Coronavirus. The unfortunate discovery was made in the United States of America, where in a white-tailed deer out of three traces of Covid infection were found, with related antibodies developed. The study was published in "Nature" and represents the first detection of cases of SARS-CoV-2 among wild animals. The researchers say they are worried, but, in any case, More studies are needed to accurately assess whether deer can infect each other and, moreover, they can spread the disease to other animals. It remains to be established how the virus spread among deer; previous laboratory experiments had shown that the deer can become infected and infect other specimens of its own species.
Moreover, in nature, they live in small flocks and the opportunities for close contact between them are not few. Now, however, researchers fear the emergence of new animal "reservoirs", that is infected wildlife specimens that could represent a refuge for the pathogen and allow it to mutate and thus undermine the effectiveness of vaccines developed and approved so far: "A similar fallout could now occur in wildlife around the world." To assess this risk, Susan Shriner, a member of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Fort Collins, Colorado, and his colleagues tested 385 blood samples collected during routine wildlife surveillance activities between January and March 2021 in four US states (Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois and New York).
They were amazed to discover that 40% of the samples contained SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, produced in response to infection. Subsequently, none of the deer examined showed signs of disease, confirming that they had recovered. Overall, one third of the deer tested in 2020 and 2021 developed antibodies. The hypotheses relating to the methods of contagion are disparate: could be related to contact with humans, with other animals or even with contaminated waste water. "If there is a common source of exposure for deer, then probably the same source can make other animals sick," the researchers conclude, highlighting the importance of keeping a close eye on the situation. inherent not only to deer, but also to their predators and other species (Il Sussidiario).