'Very unsettling': Scientists see troubling signs in humans spreading Covid to deer
"Widespread, sustained circulation of the virus in deer could represent a risk to people if mutations in deer created a new variant. A population of wild animals harboring the virus could also retain variants that are no longer circulating among humans now, and allow them to return later.
“The sheer possibility that these things are happening and it’s unknown makes this very unsettling,” said Suresh Kuchipudi, a virologist at Pennsylvania State University. “We could be caught by surprise with a completely different variant.”
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/us/v...ovid-to-deer/ar-AASlUDJ?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531
Not to be an alarmist, but unless someone can satisfactorily explain it differently, I'm not seeing why an even faster spreading, deadlier variant than what we've experienced so far couldn't come about - whether such came from animals &/or humans. Faster, deadlier variants that also are even better than omicron at getting past current immunities.
In fact, this is what could have happened with omicron. The omicron variant comes from a covid-19 strain from mid 2020. It "jumps" from that strain, "disappears" and then it appears again in late Nov 2021 with many different mutations.
Omicron does not come from an evolution of the human covid-19 (known) strains (widely) circulating from mid 2020 to late Nov 2021.
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Omicron variant might have mutated from mice, says study
https://metro.co.uk/2022/01/03/omicron-variant-might-have-mutated-from-mice-says-study-15856932/
"Researchers in China have found that the Omicron variant might have mutated in mice before making its way back to humans.
The
rapid build-up of mutations in the Omicron variant that enabled its outbreak raised questions among scientists as to whether it originated in humans or other mammals.
The range of
mutations acquired by the source of Omicron was significantly different from the range for viruses that evolved in human patients. However,
it resembled the range of mutations associated with virus evolution in mice.
Mutations in the Omicron variant was also found to overlap with mutations known to promote adaptation to mouse hosts.
"Collectively, our results suggest that
the progenitor of Omicron jumped from humans to mice, rapidly accumulated mutations conducive to infecting that host, then jumped back into humans, indicating an
inter-species evolutionary trajectory for the Omicron outbreak,"
The first is that Omicron could have ‘
cryptically spread’ and circulated in a population with insufficient viral testing.
Second, Omicron could have
evolved in an immunocompromised Covid-19 patient who provided a suitable host for the virus to evolve and this was the most accepted theory until this recent study. explained the study.
The third possibility was that Omicron could have
accumulated mutations in a nonhuman host and then jumped into humans.
Viruses belonging to different orders (e.g., poliovirus, Ebola virus, and SARS-CoV-2) were found to exhibit similar mutations when evolving in the same host species, while members of the same virus species mutated differently when evolving in different host species.
The scientists found that
the mutations acquired by Omicron before its outbreak were different from the mutations attributed to the cellular environment of human hosts.
Therefore, after examining the molecular range of mutations from a wide range of host mammals for comparison with that of Omicron, they found that
mice could be the most likely culprit.
This study provides insight into the origins of Omicron and suggested strategies for avoiding future outbreaks caused by other variants spreading in wild animals.
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Here is the study:
Evidence for a mouse origin of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC8702434/
"The rapid accumulation of mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant that enabled its outbreak raises questions as to whether its proximal origin occurred in humans or another mammalian host.
The molecular spectrum of mutations (i.e., the relative frequency of the 12 types of base substitutions) acquired by the progenitor of Omicron was significantly different from the spectrum for viruses that evolved in human patients, but resembled the spectra associated with virus evolution in a mouse cellular environment. Furthermore,
mutations in the Omicron spike protein significantly overlapped with SARS-CoV-2 mutations known to promote adaptation to mouse hosts, particularly through enhanced spike protein binding affinity for the mouse cell entry receptor. Collectively, our results suggest that
the progenitor of Omicron jumped from humans to mice, rapidly accumulated mutations conducive to infecting that host, then jumped back into humans, indicating an
inter-species evolutionary trajectory for the Omicron outbreak."
