Steve Droter/Chesapeake Bay Program/Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)
Coronavirus antibodies have been found in wild white-tailed deer in the U.S. states of Michigan, Illinois, New York, and Pennsylvania, National Geographic reports. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture tested 385 deer between January and March and detected antibodies in 40%, the team reports in a preprint posted to bioRxiv late last month. Deer are now the second species, after mink, found to have contracted the pandemic coronavirus in the wild. (Dogs and cats have contracted the virus in household settings, and other species have experienced outbreaks in zoos.) Although there is no evidence that humans are at risk of catching COVID-19 from the animals, these findings indicate deer and other wildlife might act as a reservoir for the virus, potentially letting it circulate and evolve, even if it is controlled in the human population.
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