Nearly 80% of wild deer in Iowa, U.S. are infected with COVID-19

A recent study in the United States found that a large number of wild deer in Iowa were also infected with the new crown virus, the number is as high as hundreds. The genetic sequence of this virus is the same as that of humans, and it is likely that humans have infected these wild deer. Rapidly spreading to each other, 80% of wild deer in the state have been infected.

According to a report in the New York Times, a research team at Pennsylvania State University has released a new study. The survey showed that from April 2020 to January 2021, nearly 80% of wild deer in Iowa were infected.

During the period, the research team found 283 wild deer samples, most of which came from samples collected in September, which is the hunting season in Iowa. According to statistics during this period, more than 10,000 hunters in Iowa hunted in the wild. During this period, hunters often came into contact with wild deer. These reasons may have caused humans to transmit the virus to wild deer. At the same time, the research team also drew a map of the distribution of the area where the deer herd was infected, which also largely overlapped with the area where the hunters appeared the most dense.

Rachel Ruden, a doctor at the Iowa State College of Veterinary Medicine, said, “Once a wild deer is infected, the virus will sweep the entire population, and if a wild deer touches the urine or feces of another wild deer, it will May be infected. Because wild deer do not follow the rules of public health and safety. In addition, he added that it is easy for people to transmit the new crown virus to wild deer, considering that there are about 445,000 wild deer in the state, if people are in the yard. The virus will spread by feeding wild deer in the country, through sewage discharge, or the animal licking the cigarette butt left by the hunter. Anyway, these research results prove that we are all in this epidemic.

Fortunately, there is currently no evidence that humans have been infected with the new crown virus due to deer, but everything is inconclusive before the end of the epidemic, and we still need to be vigilant and not take it lightly.