A recent scientific study has revealed that a white-tailed deer on Staten Island has been found carrying the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus, marking the first reported case of the variant in wildlife. The findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that white-tailed deer easily contract the virus, and the results are likely to intensify concerns that deer, which are widely distributed across the United States and live in close proximity to humans, could become a reservoir for the coronavirus and a potential source of new variants, including Omicron. Researchers had previously reported the spread of the virus among deer in Iowa in late 2020 and parts of Ohio in early 2021.
Research indicates that deer pick up the virus from humans and then spread it to other deer, and there is no evidence that the animals transmit it back to humans. However, long-term spread of the virus among deer could give the virus greater opportunities to mutate, potentially leading to new variants that could infect humans or other animal species. Vivk Kapoor, a veterinary microbiologist at Pennsylvania State University, part of the Staten Island research team, stated that the virus's spread among deer provides opportunities for adaptation and evolution, and it is likely to come back to haunt us in the future.
The researchers also found that one infected deer carrying the Omicron variant already had a high level of antibodies to the virus, suggesting it may have been previously infected. The Omicron variant has demonstrated the ability to evade some human immune defenses; if it similarly exhibits immune evasion in deer, animals infected during early outbreaks may be at risk of reinfection. According to experts cited by timesofindia, the news that Omicron has infiltrated white-tailed deer populations was not unexpected. Scientists confirmed that the best way to prevent deer from becoming a reservoir for the coronavirus is to limit its spread among humans.
