Source:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/covid19-deer-may-spead-to-humans-1.6366023
<begin article>
In a world first, preliminary research suggests deer may be able to
transmit the COVID-19 virus to humans, following analysis by a team of
Canadian scientists monitoring the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in animals.
Up until now, researchers have only found evidence of humans spreading
the virus to deer, and deer spreading it to other deer.
Humans are the main source of COVID-19, but what happens now that
we've spread it to animals?
New evidence suggesting the virus may be able to spill from deer to
humans is a significant development, as scientists are closely
tracking whether wild animals could become a source of new variants
and act as a reservoir for SARS-CoV-2.
Still, humans remain the main source of the virus and its spread
around the world.
The new research paper posted Friday on bioRxiv, an online archive and
distribution service for unpublished preprints in the life sciences,
has not been peer reviewed.
The findings stem from work by a team of scientists who collaborated
to analyze samples taken from hundreds of deer killed by hunters in
the fall of 2021 in southwestern Ontario.
In their analysis, scientists discovered a highly divergent lineage of
SARS-CoV-2 — which essentially means a cluster of the virus with a lot
of mutations.
Around the same time, a genetically similar version of the virus was
identified in a person from the same region of Ontario who had
recently been in contact with deer.
Finlay Maguire, who collaborated on the research and helped analyze
the genetic sequencing, underscored the fact no other cases were found
in humans.
"This particular case, while raising a red flag, doesn't seem to be
hugely alarming," Maguire said in an interview.
He said their conclusions come down to strong circumstantial evidence.
"While we haven't seen [transmission from deer to human] happen
directly, we sampled from the human case around the same time we
sampled from the deer, and we sampled from around the same location,"
Maguire said. "There is also a plausible link by which it could have
happened, in that the individual involved is known to have had
considerable contact with deer."
The research points to the need for better surveillance of the
COVID-19 virus — not just in humans, but also in animals, plants and
the wider environment, said Maguire, an assistant professor at
Dalhousie University and a pathogenomics bioinformatics lead at the
Shared Hospital Laboratory in Toronto.
Need for better surveillance
How the deer caught the virus in the first place is unclear, which is
one of the reasons Maguire and others say more surveillance is needed.
It could have been transmitted from humans directly, or through
wastewater or an intermediary host animal, like mink.
Samira Mubareka, an infectious disease physician and virologist at
Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, also spoke to CBC and
said the version of the virus they found was different from what's
circulating now.
"It's not even closely related to Delta or to Omicron. It's most
recent relative was from way back in 2020."
Mubareka, one of the authors of the research paper, said that means it
took time for the divergent lineage to mutate and emerge.
"It's reassuring that we found no evidence of further transmission,
during a time when we were doing a lot of sampling and a lot of
sequencing," said Mubareka, a microbiologist and clinical scientist at
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre .
"If we continue to do this surveillance, we'll get a much better sense
of what the actual risk is."
Previously, the only other known cases of transmission from animals to
humans have been in farmed mink. There is also some preliminary
research out of Hong Kong suggesting the virus may be able to spread
from hamsters to humans.
Jonathon Kotwa, left, and Dr. Samira Mubareka, shown in their lab at
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, are part of a team of
scientists from across Canada who are analyzing samples from wildlife
to monitor the spread of COVID-19. (Doug Nicholson/Sunnybrook Research
Institute)
Hunters should be cautious
For most people, the risk of catching the virus from a human is much
higher than catching it from deer.
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) said there is no evidence
that animals play a large role in the current spread of COVID-19 and
animal-to-human transmission is rare, but the agency is warning
hunters to be cautious.
Hunters and people who handle wild deer are being advised to wash
their hands regularly, wear gloves, goggles and a well-fitted mask
when there is a possibility of being exposed to respiratory tissues
and fluids, especially indoors.
Coronaviruses are killed by normal cooking temperatures and there has
been no evidence that cooked venison can spread the COVID-19 virus.
PHAC said scientists from the National Microbiology Laboratory
reviewed the research paper's findings and confirmed the genetic
similarities suggest the possibility of deer-to-human transmission in
this case.
"Based on available information to date, there is no sign of
additional human infections with this unique sequence, since this
single human case was identified," a statement from PHAC said.
"Routine genomic surveillance will continue to monitor positive PCR
[polymerase chain reaction] test results for unusual variations of the
virus in Canada, including this one."
So far, the virus has been found in wild white-tailed deer in the
northeastern United States, as well as in Quebec, Ontario,
Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
<end article>
Source:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/covid19-deer-may-spead-to-humans-1.6366023
U.S. humans that hunt/kill/eat deer are generally members of the NRA,
which as is consistent w/all Republican organizations, advise people
to be violent gun-wielding anti-maskers.
Bottom line:
Therefore, it is inevitable that the next "variant of concern" (VOC)
of COVID-19 possibly even more lethal than Delta will emerge from deer
in North America.
In the interim, the only *healthy* way to stop the pandemic, thereby
saving lives, in U.S. & elsewhere is by rapidly (
http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) finding out at any given moment,
including even while on-line, who among us are unwittingly contagious
(i.e pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic) in order to
http://tinyurl.com/ConvinceItForward (John 15:12) for them to call
their doctor and self-quarantine per their doctor in hopes of stopping
this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the best while preparing for the
worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage mutations and others like the
Omicron, Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, Lambda, Mu & Delta lineage
mutations combining via slip-RNA-replication to form hybrids that
render current COVID vaccines/monoclonals/medicines/pills no longer
effective.
Be hungrier, which really is wonderfully healthier especially for
diabetics and other heart disease patients: