Ferreira Francisco C, Pervin Tahmina, Tang Wendy W, Hediger Joseph A, Thomas Logan F, Cook Walter E, Cherry Michael J, Neuman Benjamin W, Hamer Gabriel L, Hamer Sarah A
Emerg Infect Dis. 2025 Feb;31(2):267-274. doi: 10.3201/eid3102.241458.
White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) have high value for research, conservation, agriculture, and recreation and might be key SARS-CoV-2 reservoirs. In November 2023, we sampled 15 female deer in a captive facility in Texas, USA. All deer had neutralizing antibodies to SARS-CoV-2; respiratory swab samples from 11 deer were SARS-CoV-2-positive by quantitative reverse transcription PCR, and 1 deer also had a positive rectal swab sample. Six of the 11 respiratory swab samples yielded infectious virus; replication kinetics of most samples displayed lower growth 24-48 hours postinfection in vitro than Omicron lineages isolated from humans in Texas in the same period. Virus growth was similar between groups by 72 hours, suggesting no strong attenuation of deer-derived virus. All deer viruses clustered in XBB Omicron clade and demonstrated more mutations than expected compared with contemporaneous viruses in humans, suggesting that crossing the species barrier was accompanied by a high substitution rate.
白尾鹿（弗吉尼亚鹿）在研究、保护、农业和娱乐方面具有很高价值，可能是严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）的关键宿主。2023年11月，我们在美国得克萨斯州的一个圈养设施中对15只雌性鹿进行了采样。所有鹿都具有针对SARS-CoV-2的中和抗体；通过定量逆转录聚合酶链反应，11只鹿的呼吸道拭子样本呈SARS-CoV-2阳性，1只鹿的直肠拭子样本也呈阳性。11份呼吸道拭子样本中有6份产生了感染性病毒；大多数样本在体外感染后24至48小时的复制动力学显示，其生长速度低于同期在得克萨斯州从人类分离出的奥密克戎谱系。到72小时时，各组之间的病毒生长情况相似，这表明源自鹿的病毒没有明显减弱。所有鹿源病毒都聚集在XBB奥密克戎分支中，与同期人类病毒相比，其突变数量更多，这表明跨物种传播伴随着较高的替换率。
