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.
Women must not see themselves as second-class citizens and know that they too have arrived on the scene, Indra Nooyi, who has broken many glass ceilings as a businesswoman, said on Sunday.
Indian-American and former Pepsico head Indra Nooyi was on Sunday inducted into the prestigious Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery along with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in recognition of their accomplishments, impacting America’s shared history, development and culture.
The documents were leaked to The New York Times by a member of the Chinese political establishment in an effort to hold President Xi accountable for the mass detentions.
A US-based Indian professional, whose name was listed in the Green Card backlog, died suddenly and as a result his newly-wedded wife has been rendered out of status resulting in her inevitable return to India, a media report said.
An Indian-origin owner of a local technical training school in San Diego pleaded guilty to defrauding the US Department of Veterans Affairs out of more than US$ 29 million in education benefits meant for veterans.
