White-tailed deer in the United States have become the first wild animals with documented cases of infection with the omicron strain of coronavirus. This is reported in an article published in the preprint repository medRxiv.
As researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found, 19 out of 131 randomly selected representatives of this species tested positive for antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Further study showed that omicron is spreading among animals. Currently, this variant of the coronavirus has been found in deer in 15 states.
Experts have determined that the deer contracted COVID-19 from humans. At the moment, there is no evidence that the virus can be transmitted from animals to humans, but experts fear that such cases could lead to new mutations of the coronavirus.
Earlier, a specialist in especially dangerous infections, an immunologist Vladislav Zhemchugov, suggested that the coronavirus would leave people for animals. He admitted that the omicron strain would be the last option, after which COVID-19 would change its host and continue to spread in animal populations.
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