White-tailed deer in Ohio first in the world to test positive for COVID
Aug. 27, 2021
Whitetail deer
A wild white-tailed deer has contracted SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) according to the USDA. MI Dept. of Natural Resources
By Alexis Oatman, cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Wild white-tailed Ohio deer are the first in the world to be found infected with COVID, according to the USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories.
“These are the first deer confirmed with the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide, although earlier studies have shown both that deer can be experimentally infected with the virus and that some wild deer had antibodies to the virus,” the USDA said in a news release.
Ohio State’s University College of Veterinary Medicine collected samples from deer between January and March 2021, the release said. The deer didn’t show any clinical symptoms of infection.
The college initially completed confirmatory testing on nine samples, confirming eight of them, said Andrew Bowman, associate professor for the department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine. He said while he can’t directly pinpoint how the deer got exposed to the virus, it’s most likely the deer were exposed through people, the environment, other deer, or another animal species.
The samples from the deer tested positive at Ohio State, and the cases were confirmed by the National Veterinary Services Laboratories. The lab works as a reference laboratory providing guidance on diagnostic techniques and offers confirmatory testing of foreign and emerging animal diseases.
Bowman says the finding is not surprising because white-tailed deer are more susceptible to the virus.
“Previous studies have shown that white-tailed deer have the protein receptors that allow the virus to enter susceptible cells, are susceptible when experimentally inoculated,” Bowman said. “Some wild white-tailed deer have antibodies to the virus.”
https://www.cleveland.com/news/2021/08/w...sr1D8LGVwFzElSk
