COVID-19 Scan for Mar 22, 2022

Study shows efficient deer-to-deer SARS-CoV-2 transmissionA US study shows that white-tailed deer (WTD) inoculated with COVID-19–causing SARS-CoV-2 shed infectious virus for up to 5 days, resulting in efficient deer-to-deer transmission on day 3, findings the authors say highlight the potential for deer to become a reservoir for the virus.Cornell University and US Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers conducted the study, published yesterday in PLOS Pathogens.

The team intranasally inoculated fawns about 8 months old with SARS-CoV-2 virus.The fawns, which had high viral loads in their nasal and oral secretions, shed infectious virus for up to 5 days.

Efficient transmission to other deer occurred on day 3, but no spread was detected to additional deer introduced to the infected deer on days 6 and 9.In investigating SARS-CoV-2 viral replication in WTD aged 3 or 4 years, the researchers detected infectious virus up to day 6 in nasal secretions and from respiratory, lymphoid, and central nervous system tissues."The study provides important insights on the infection and transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in WTD, a wild animal species that is highly susceptible to infection and with the potential to become a reservoir for the virus in the field," they wrote.The study authors noted that SARS-CoV-2 can infect both domestic and wild animal species and that WTD, the most widely distributed cervid species in the Americas, have been shown to be highly vulnerable to the virus, with reported natural infection rates of up to 40% in wild deer in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York, and Texas.

Examples of other cervids are moose and elk."Understanding the infection and transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in WTD is critical