Ames, Iowa — White-tailed deer are susceptible to coronavirus infections and researchers at the USDA’s National Animal Disease Center in Ames are looking into how different variants of the virus impact deer over time.
USDA Veterinary Medical Officer Mitchell Palmer says once a disease is established in wildlife, it’s difficult to get out of wildlife, plus, there are about 30 million white-tailed deer in the US.
The research team has been infecting captive white-tailed deer with different coronavirus variants. The deer don’t develop a fever or clinical signs of COVID-19. The team is looking at the virus dynamics in deer, like how long they can find the virus in deer’s nasal passages and how long antibodies last. USDA Veterinary Medical Officer Paola Boggiatto says if white-tailed deer are infecting other deer with the virus, then…
Researchers got $1.7 million dollars from the American Rescue Plan for up to three years of this work.
