Widespread exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in wildlife communities.

ABSTRACT: Pervasive SARS-CoV-2 infections in humans have led to multiple transmission events to animals. While SARS-CoV-2 has a potential broad wildlife host range, most documented infections have been in captive animals and a single wildlife species, the white-tailed deer. The full extent of SARS-CoV-2 exposure among wildlife communities and the factors that influence wildlife transmission risk remain unknown. We sampled 23 species of wildlife for SARS-CoV-2 and examined the effects of urbanization and human use on seropositivity. Here, we document positive detections of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in six species, including the deer mouse, Virginia opossum, raccoon, groundhog, Eastern cottontail, and Eastern red bat between May 2022-September 2023 across Virginia and Washington, D.C., USA. In addition, we found

SUBMITTER: Goldberg AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11286844 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature