1st possible case of deer-to-human COVID-19 transmission reported

White-tailed Deer buck and doe in snowy field. — (Image credit: Stan Tekiela/Getty Images)

The first potential case of a deer passing the novel coronavirus to a person has been reported in Canada, according to a new study.

What's more, the researchers identified highly mutated clusters of SARS-CoV-2 genomes in white-tailed deer, underscoring the potential for deer to act as an animal reservoir for the virus.

When the researchers sequenced the genomes from five of the virus samples, they identified "a new and highly divergent lineage of SARS-CoV-2," the authors wrote. (A lineage is a group or cluster of closely related viruses with a common ancestor, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. SARS-CoV-2 has many lineages.) This lineage had 76 mutations compared with the original version of the virus identified in Wuhan, China. Further analysis suggests that the lineage may have been evolving in animals since late 2020, according to The New York Times.

Next, the researchers compared the viral genomes found in deer to those found in humans in the area. They identified a person who was infected with a genetically similar strain of SARS-CoV-2, according to The Guardian. This person lived in Southwestern Ontario and had known close contact with deer, and so it seems plausible that a deer transmitted the virus to the person in this case. However, the researchers noted that their limited data prevented them from definitively linking the human and deer case.

So far, this seems to be an isolated case — the researchers did not find evidence of other human cases from this lineage. And so in terms of its spread to humans, "This particular case, while raising a red flag, doesn't seem to be hugely alarming," study coauthor Finlay Maguire, an assistant professor at Dalhousie University, told CBC News.

Canada's public health agency recommended that, "Until we know more, people who hunt, trap or work closely with or handle wildlife should take precautions to prevent the potential spread of the virus," The Guardian reported.

Originally published on Live Science.

Rachael is a Live Science contributor, and was a former channel editor and senior writer for Live Science between 2010 and 2022. She has a master's degree in journalism from New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program. She also holds a B.S. in molecular biology and an M.S. in biology from the University of California, San Diego. Her work has appeared in Scienceline, The Washington Post and Scientific American.

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1st possible case of deer-to-human COVID-19 transmission reported