Electrical engineering

Internal medicine

Disease

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Veterinary medicine

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Biology

Pandemic

Zoology

Engineering

Virology

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

Medicine

Transmission (telecommunications)

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Significance The results provide strong evidence of extensive SARS-CoV-2 infection of white-tailed deer, a free-living wild animal species with widespread distribution across North, Central, and South America. The analysis shows infection of deer resulted from multiple spillovers from humans, followed by efficient deer-to-deer transmission. The discovery of widespread infection of white-tailed deer indicates their establishment as potential reservoir hosts for SARS-CoV-2, a finding with important implications for the ecology, long-term persistence, and evolution of the virus, including the potential for spillback to humans.

Multiple spillovers from humans and onward transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in white-tailed deer