It’s nearly deer hunting season in Alabama, and with COVID so prevalent in white-tailed deer, should hunters be worried about catching the virus or eating the meat?
A study lead by researchers from Penn State University found that upwards of 80% of the deer sampled in various counties in Iowa from December 2020 to January 2021 tested positive for COVID-19, while 33% of all deer included in the several-month study tested positive.
“The findings suggest that white-tailed deer may be a reservoir for the virus to continually circulate and raise concerns about the emergence of new strains that may prove a threat to wildlife and, possibly, to humans,” states a news release from Penn State.
The deer were likely infected as the result of “multiple human-to-deer spillover events and deer-to-deer transmission,” the study states.
While there is no evidence that deer have infected humans with the virus, experts are still concerned by the possibility, said Dr. Robert Salata, chairman of the Department of Medicine at University Hospitals.
Salata said he presumes any transmission from deer to humans would likely involve the respiratory tract as it does with humans and that he recommends hunters take precautions when handling deer, not just around the nose and mouth, but with other parts of the body as well.
He said in humans COVID can involve the gastrointestinal tract, so he wouldn’t discount that as a potential point of transmission.
Until more is known, it would be appropriate for hunters to wear gloves and a mask when handling deer, he said.
As for becoming infected by consuming venison from an infected deer, Salata said that should not be a concern as long as you thoroughly cook the meat.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife issued a statement that said there is no evidence people can get COVID “by preparing or eating meat from an animal infected with the virus.”
The statement goes on to say, ”To limit deer-to-deer transmission, ODNR continues to urge homeowners and hunters to avoid concentrating deer at backyard feeders or in hunting situations. Do not allow contact between wildlife and domestic animals, including pets and hunting dogs. Do not harvest animals that appear sick or are found dead.”
General hunting season in Alabama for guns begins Nov. 20.
The Penn State study, which has yet to be peer reviewed, examined nearly 300 deer over several months of the pandemic. The samplings were taken from lymph nodes in the head and neck as part of the state’s Chronic Wasting Disease surveillance program.
The findings “have important implications for the ecology and long-term persistence of the virus,” Suresh Kuchipidi, clinical professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences at Penn State, said in the news release. “These include spillover to other free-living or captive animals and potential spillback to human hosts. Of course, this highlights that many urgent steps are needed to monitor the spread of the virus in deer and prevent spillback on humans.”
Kuchipidi states that the study is “the first direct evidence” of COVID-19 “in any free-living species, although the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported in August that the virus had been confirmed in wild whitetail deer in Ohio.
“These are the first deer confirmed with the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide, although earlier studies have shown both that deer can be experimentally infected with the virus and that some wild deer had antibodies to the virus,” the Agriculture Department stated in a news release about the Ohio findings dated Aug. 27, 2021.