XPost: misc.news.internet.discuss   
   From: here@is.invalid   
      
   Uh Oh, the Coronavirus Has Been Spreading Widely in U.S. Deer   
      
   Up to a third of deer in Iowa had recently been infected by   
   SARS-CoV-2, according to one estimate   
   ...   
   ...   
   ...   
   Coronaviruses in general are known for their ability to infect a wide   
   range of species--a trait that made them prime suspects for causing a   
   pandemic, even before covid-19 arrived. And while the true origins of   
   this pandemic are still being argued over, it's clear that it didn't   
   take long for SARS-CoV-2 to make itself comfortable in other animals   
   beside us. Cats, dogs, weasels, and even other primates like gorillas   
   have all been documented carriers of the virus, along with deer.   
      
   In most of these reported animal outbreaks, humans have been   
   implicated as the initial source of transmission. The virus has also   
   been shown to be capable of spreading from animal to animal,   
   particularly among weasels. These have often been isolated incidents,   
   such as zoos where a worker might infect a few animals before the   
   chain of transmission stops there. This new research, released as a   
   preprint paper on Biorxiv, suggests that the virus has truly spilled   
   over into at least some populations of white-tailed deer in the U.S.   
   and is now widely spreading among them.   
   ...   
   ...   
   What's more, the samples from free-living deer were more likely to   
   test positive for the virus than captive populations (including those   
   living on preserves). And when the authors tried to map out the   
   geographic distribution and genetic signature of these cases, they   
   determined that the virus had jumped over from humans to deer multiple   
   times during those months and that it was then spreading among   
   free-living deer.   
      
      
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)