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.
A Hong Kong court has extradited fugitive Ramanjit Singh, alias Romi, the key conspirator in Punjab's Nabha jail break as well as several other major crimes, officials said on Wednesday.
An Indian man working for the US in Afghanistan has been brought to Washington to be tried on charges that he allegedly sexually assaulted an American woman there, according to Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski.
In honour of fallen Indian-American Sikh police officer Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal, the Houston Police Department has changed its dress code policy to allow the minority community members to represent their faith while on duty.
In the first conviction of a labour trafficking case in Singapore, an Indian couple was convicted of abusing their power to exploit employees by various means including verbal abuse, financial penalties and controlling their movements, a media report said on Saturday.
It was a message that drew everyone's attention. A young girl trekking the long route to the famed Sabarimala temple sported a placard around her neck reading: "Am 9 years now, next visit to the temple is after I finish 50 years, Lord Ayyappa".
