The virus that causes COVID-19 has spread to Virginia’s wildlife, and Virginia Tech researchers say well-populated spaces are likely where it spreads from humans to animals.
While SARS-CoV-2 infections had already been known in tandem primarily in white-tailed deer and wild mink, the Virginia Tech researchers tried to see if the virus had spread to unusually wild areas.
Researcher Carla Finkielstein, who is also director of Virginia Tech’s Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, said it’s vital to track the spread of the virus.
“The more vaccinated we are, the greater the chance that the virus will seek a new host,” Finkielstein said. “The virus does not depend on whether its host walks on two or four legs; its main goal is survival. »
The study team collected 798 nasal and oral swabs in Virginia from animals that were trapped alive in the box and released or treated in rehabilitation centers.
The team received 126 blood samples from six species. The study also detected two mice at the same time on the same day with the same variant, suggesting that they passed it from the same human or that one mouse inflamed the other.
Finkielstein said it’s unclear how the virus had spread from humans to wildlife.
“The maximum hypothesis is about waste, food residues, sewage,” he said. “Something that humans have infected, discarded or eliminated, and then animals have collected. “
When asked if there was any indication that animals could also transmit COVID to humans, he replied, “We don’t have any evidence to the contrary. “
The team will continue its studies with the support of a $5 million grant from the U. S. Agricultural Decomponent Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. In order to understand how the presence of the virus might influence the long-term maintenance of COVID in humans.
“We shouldn’t be afraid of it or interact with it,” Finkielstein said. “We just have to be careful how we do it. “
Neal Augenstein has been a general duty reporter at WTOP since 1997. He says he looks forward to going to work every day, even if it means waking up at 3:30 a. m.