Having covered the pandemic since it started, it didn’t surprise me to learn the COVID-19 virus was infecting not just people, but other animals as well. The virus acts differently in different species—for example, bats, which seem to be a reservoir for coronaviruses, often don't get sick from that family of viruses while similar infections are often dangerous to people. Deer are another population that doesn’t seem to be that affected, but a new study raises another concern about deer infections. The virus seems to replicate at a much faster rate in deer than in people, and every time the virus replicates is another chance for it to develop mutations, some of which could give the virus more disease-causing power in people.

I spoke to the lead author of the study, Andrew Bowman, from Ohio State University about the following:

• SARS-CoV-2 evolves three times faster in deer than in people
• Based on genetic analysis, it’s likely deer got infected through interactions with people, but it’s not clear what that interface looks like, since the most obvious one—hunting—involves killed animals
• So far, vaccines and antiviral treatments are still effective against the mutated strains obtained from deer

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