Province records 1st confirmed case of COVID-19 in an animal

New Brunswick has its first confirmed case of the virus that causes COVID-19 in an animal.

SARS-CoV-2 was detected in a free-ranging white-tailed deer in the Saint John region, Environment Canada announced on social media Wednesday.

The case was confirmed in a sample taken on Jan. 24, according to the Canadian Animal Health Surveillance System, a division of the National Farmed Animal Health and Welfare Council.

It's the first positive case detected in an animal in Atlantic Canada, the website shows.

"We can confirm the first case of the virus has been detected in wildlife in New Brunswick," said government spokesperson Jean Bertin.

"Despite this finding, the risk of transmission from deer to humans is still considered low, and COVID-19 remains largely a disease that affects humans," he said in an emailed statement.

"COVID-19 is mainly transmitted from humans to other humans and can be prevented by following Public Health recommendations."

Still, until more is known, people who hunt or work closely with wildlife should take precautions, Bertin said, based on the recommendation of Health Canada.

It advises hunters and trappers to wear gloves, eye protection, such as goggles, and a well-fitting mask when exposed to respiratory tissues and fluids, to practise good hand hygiene, and to cook meat to an internal temperature of 74°C (165°F).

The federal government has also issued recommendations for wildlife professionals and organizations.

A few months ago, New Brunswick sent 40 nasal samples taken from hunted white-tailed deer to a federal lab in Saskatoon.

The deer were hunted between Nov. 10 and 19 near Saint John and Hampton.

As of a couple of weeks ago, none had tested positive, according to analysis by Environment and Climate Change Canada's wildlife health laboratory.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease has confirmed 56 cases of SARS-CoV-2 in animals across the country since October 2020, the Canadian Animal Health Surveillance System's website shows.

Forty of them have been in wildlife, 13 in companion animals, such as dogs and cats, and three have involved mink farms.

SARS-CoV-2 has been detected in white-tailed deer in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, B.C., Ontario and Quebec, the website shows.

Studies on white-tailed deer have found that while the virus likely spread initially from humans, deer-to-deer transmission is also occurring, according to the federal government.

A team of Canadian scientists monitoring the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in animals also recently found one instance of suspected deer-to-human transmission in Ontario. "This appears to be an isolated case with no further transmission," the federal government's website states.

Virologist Samira Mubareka, an infectious disease specialist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, who grew up in Edmundston, is part of a team of Canadian researchers investigating whether the virus mutates in animals and whether it could become resistant to vaccines in humans.

Philip Wiebe, a biologist and PhD candidate in the department of forestry and environmental management at the University of New Brunswick, has said most New Brunswickers probably don't have to worry about catching COVID from white-tailed deer because the animals are too wild and skittish to get close.

Wiebe studies deer activity in the province and in Maine. He said there could be some risk in the north of the province, where some deer are losing their fear of humans because of feeding programs aimed at helping the deer survive harsh winters.

"In some places, they're feeding them right out of their hands," Wiebe said. "They're potentially putting saliva in people's hands."

According to the World Organisation for Animal Health, the only confirmed reports of COVID-19 spreading from animals to people have been from mink farms. In these situations, workers have infected mink, and then mink have spread the virus back to other people.

Recent reports have identified possible animal-to-human transmission from hamsters in Hong Kong.