CNN Indonesia
Sunday, 16 Jul 2023 20:30 WIB
Illustration. Humans have been found to transmit the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 to a herd of wild deer in the US. (Vladimir Kudinov)
Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
New study in United States of America found that humans deploy virus corona cause of Covid-19 to animals. This transmission occurred to a herd of wild white-tailed deer more than 100 times between late 2021 and 2022.
The study was conducted by the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. In at least three cases of transmission, the researchers suspect that humans could also have caught the virus from deer.
Reported from CNNa study published in the journal Nature Communications on Monday (10/7) it also found that many strains of the corona virus such as Alpha, Delta and Omicron continued to circulate in deer after the virus left the human population.
Deer and humans have very similar ACE2 receptors. ACE2 is the gate used by viruses to enter cells.
For the study, scientists spent months collecting nearly 9,000 respiratory swab samples from wild deer in 26 states.
The swabs generated nearly 400 sequences from 34 lineages of the virus that causes Covid-19. They compared those sequences to find viruses in humans that were very similar to those found in deer.
In 109 cases, researchers were able to show that deer had been infected by the virus that causes Covid-19 from humans.
While in three special cases, the virus that infected humans was found to closely match the genetic sequence of viruses previously carried by deer. This led the researchers to suspect that these people might have contracted it from these animals.
If the virus continues to circulate among deer, then these animals could become long-term reservoirs. This allows the virus to hide and develop new, potentially more dangerous mutations.
Scientists fear that the virus could jump back into the human population and trigger another massive wave. This is because reservoirs in wild animals will become a bigger problem if the spread of the virus in humans is successfully controlled.
But in fact, until now the transmission of Covid-19 is still ongoing between humans.
Illustration. Humans found to spread the corona virus that causes Covid-19 to herds of deer in the US. (iStockphoto/South_agency)
“The more species there are and the more infections there are, the greater the risk of new variants emerging,” said veterinarian Scott Weese of Guelph University, Canada. He himself frequently studied the spread of disease among humans and animals.
In response to the study, the US government plans to continue and expand animal surveys to monitor how the virus travels.
Deer themselves have become a common animal found in the US, even in urban environments. Humans can come into direct contact with deer while feeding or hunting, or through their droppings.
“A pet cat that spends time outdoors can also act as a reservoir,” says Weese. Cats can catch viruses from outside and bring them back home.
(del/asr)
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2023-07-16 13:30:31
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