UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Data extrapolated from a Pennsylvania State University study of Iowa deer suggests 80% are infected with Covid, which already has killed 250 million people worldwide. The lead researcher, researcher Suresh Kuchipudi, a virologist, collected lymph node samples from hundreds of white-tail dead deer across the state from April 2020 through January 2021. Kuchipudi said that there was no evidence of deer-to-human infection. Nonetheless, he said, the data were shocking and alarming. A concern is that deer or other wildlife could become living reservoirs in which Covid could mutate and perhaps re-enter the human species. Responding to the study, Iowa wildlife officials warned deer hunters to take precautions.
Kuchipudi. Veterinary virologist.
Wildlife-to-human transmission redux
Covid entered the human species in 2019 in China, apparently from infected live bats sold as a delicacy in wet markets in Wuhan. It’s known that other animals are susceptible. These include ferrets and primates that have been intentionally infected in lab experiments. Zoo animals have caught the virus from handlers. Mink have been sickened after exposure by farm workers. Concern about infected mink led Denmark to slaughtered its entire population of 17 million farm mink after scientists discovered they could pass the virus back to people.