2023-08-25 12:21:37
Three and a half years after the emergence of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, the cause of the covid-19 pandemic, its animal origin remains unclear and how the jump to humans occurred. It is not only necessary to investigate the animal species or species responsible for the origin of the SARS-CoV-2it is also essential to determine which other species may be reservoirs and intermediate hosts in which the virus can evolve and generate new variants with greater transmission capacity to humans and potentially with increased virulence.
The animal species capable of stably harboring the SARS-CoV-2 should be systematically identified and monitored to monitor the virus evolution and its zoonotic capacity. So far, the infection of 34 mammalian species in 39 countries around the world has been demonstrated directly or indirectly.
Animal species capable of stably harboring SARS-CoV-2 should be systematically identified and monitored to monitor the evolution of the virus
The species with the highest number of notifications of infection is the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in the US and Canada. This species is abundant in North America and is of concern as its interaction with human populations is often close and frequent. In fact, it has been shown that most of the cases studied have originated from transmissions from infected people, although the virus can then spread among deer populations.
It is not ruled out that, in turn, deer can transmit the virus to people or other animal species. However, all attempts to find evidence of cervid infection with the coronavirus in parts of the world other than North America have so far been unsuccessful.
Neutralizing antibodies specific to the SARS-CoV-2 variants that circulated in Spain have been found in these animals.
In a work resulting from the collaboration of the department. of Animal Biotechnology of the INIA-CSIC and the dept. of Microbiology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and recently published in the journal Transboundary and Emerging Diseasesseveral cases of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 in two species of the family Cervidae in Spain: the fallow deer (Right right) y the red deer (Deer elaphus).
In these animals, specific neutralizing antibodies of the variants of SARS-CoV-2 that circulated in Spain before or during the sampling of the seropositive animalsin February 2021 (20E/EU1 variant) and in February 2022 (Omicron variant).
Everything indicates that the animals were infected by viruses from people since, at least in the case of fallow deer, they are from populations very close to highly populated urban centers in the province of Madrid and, in addition, the sampling coincided with a high concentration of the virus in the wastewater of the region.
Reference:
Paloma Encinas et al. “SARS-CoV-2 Neutralizing Antibodies in Free-Ranging Fallow Deer (Dama dama) and Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) in Suburban and Rural Areas in Spain“, Transboundary and Emerging Diseases.
Fuente: SINC
Rights: Creative Commons.
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