New Delhi, Nov 17 (IANS) Scientists have found SARS-CoV-2 spreads like any other virus among white-tailed deer and other wild animals in the United States, CNN reported.
People are the likely source, but that doesn't mean the virus can't evolve among these animals and then spill back into humans, and researchers are worried about what this spread means for the risk of future pandemics, the report said.
There's little doubt SARS-Cov-2, the virus that caused the ongoing pandemic, came from an animal -- almost certainly a bat. And the prevailing scientific opinion is that there is an intermediate host, an animal of some sort, that was infected by a bat or bats and then infected people, the report added.
It's also clear that people can infect animals. Pets such as cats, zoo animals such as gorillas and snow leopards and farmed mink can all be infected. Multiple cases have been reported, and evidence of changes in the viruses infecting mink have led to mass culls of those animals on fur farms, the report added.
The latest species to capture the attention of wildlife biologists are white-tailed deer. It's little surprise that farmed deer would catch the virus from people. Any visitor to a deer farm knows the animals behave like goats, shoving their wet noses into the pockets, hands and faces of human visitors or caregivers as they clamor for food and treats -- and setting themselves up for infection.
"If somebody might bite an apple and throw it or even if I sneeze in a tissue and drop it," speculated Dr Suresh Kuchipudi of the Animal Diagnostic Laboratory at Pennsylvania State University, who helped lead one study published earlier this month that found a third of deer they tested across Iowa between September of 2020 and January of 2021 showed evidence of infection.
Sewage has been found to carry the virus, so polluted water might be a source, he added, or people spitting or contaminating the environment in other ways. The deer may then spread the virus to one another, the report added.
An Indian American student has died after being trampled at a rap music concert in Houston,Texas. Bharti Shahani, 22, died on Wednesday from injuries she suffered in the incident on Saturday, her family said at a news conference on Thursday.
An Indian-origin partner in a global consulting firm has been arrested and charged in an alleged insider trading scheme that netted him about $450,000, according to federal officials.
Local authorities have conducted investigations after New York University (NYU) evacuated multiple buildings due to bomb threats. The locations were soon evacuated, according to the university. Police conducted a search and later issued an all clear, reports Xinhua news agency.
International flight arrivals are expected to rise 11 per cent on Monday over a similar day in October at Newark Liberty and John F. Kennedy international airports, with 253 flights scheduled to arrive, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Xinhua news agency reported.
Paramhans Desai, 38, was shot when he arrived at a house in McDonough in Georgia state on the evening of November 4 as he tried to make an arrest, local county Sheriff Reginald Scandrett said at a news conference. The attacker pulled away and drew a handgun and shot Desai before fleeing in a car, Scandrett said.
Along Canada's boundary, cross-border hockey rivalries were upended. Churches that had members on both sides of the border were suddenly cut off from each other.
