Covid variants can evolve 3 times faster in deer than in humans: Study

Covid19 viral variants can evolve about three times faster in deer than in humans according to a study that documented at least 30 Covid infections in whitetailed deer in the US that were introduced by humansThe study published in the Nature Communications showed that whitetailed deer across Ohio US have increasingly been infected with SARSCoV2 the virus that causes Covid19Scientists collected 1522 nasal swabs from freeranging deer in 83 of the statersquos 88 counties between November 2021 and March 2022More than 10 per cent of the samples were positive for the SARSCoV2 virus and at least one positive case was found in 59 per cent of the counties in which testing took placeldquoWe generally talk about interspecies transmission as a rare event but this wasnrsquot a huge sampling and wersquore able to document 30 spillovers It seems to be moving between people and animals quite easilyrdquo said Andrew Bowman associate professor of veterinary preventive medicine at The Ohio State UniversityldquoAnd the evidence is growing that humans can get it from deer which isnrsquot radically surprising Itrsquos probably not a oneway pipelinerdquo he added However no substantial outbreaks of deerorigin strains have occurred in humansHow the virus is transmitted from humans to whitetailed deer remains a mystery Yet the combined findings suggest that the whitetailed deer species is a reservoir for SARSCoV2 that enables continuing mutation and that the virusrsquo circulation in deer could lead to its spread to other wildlife and livestockBeyond the detection of active infections researchers also found through blood samples containing antibodies indicating previous exposure to the virus that an estimated 235 per cent of deer in Ohio had been infected at one time or anotherThe 80 wholegenome sequences obtained from the collected samples represented groups of viral variants the highly contagious delta variant and alphaThe analysis revealed that the genetic composition of delta variants in deer matched dominant lineages found in humans at the time pointing to the spillover events and that deertodeer transmission followed in clusters some spanning multiple countiesThe study also suggested that Covid19 vaccination is likely to help protect people against severe disease in the event of a spillover back to humans An analysis of the effects of deer variants on Siberian hamsters an animal model for SARSCoV2 studies showed that vaccinated hamsters did not get as sick from infection as unvaccinated animalsThus the variants circulating in deer are expected to continue to change An investigation of the mutations found in the samples provided evidence of more rapid evolution of both alpha and delta variants in deer compared to humansldquoNot only are deer getting infected with and maintaining SARSCoV2 but the rate of change is accelerated in deer potentially away from what has infected humansrdquo Bowman saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever