Humans are not the only species that can contract the deadly coronavirus; wildlife, that is, a species of whale in the Arctic, may also be vulnerable to COVID-19, suggests a team of researchers.
The species, the narwhal, is an Arctic whale known for its huge nine-foot tusk.
“Scientists are already suffering to track the human spread of this virus, so we look forward to tracking an animal that is vulnerable to infection,” said Martin Nweeia, assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Dentistry in Cleveland, in a statement.
Nweeia will lead a study team to better understand how SARS-CoV-2, the virus guilty of COVID-19, can simply spread to some non-domesticated animals, such as narwhal. Narwhals spend their lives in canada’s Arctic waters. Norway and Russia, according to the World Nature Fund.
Like other toothed whales, narwhals have the immune formula to fight viruses.
“If this coronavirus were to take hold in wildlife, there could be potential cascading effects on ecosystems around the world and the communities that count on it,” he added.
Currently, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), there is no evidence to recommend that the virus that causes COVID-19 is circulating in the United States or that it can simply be a source of infection for others in the United States. .
However, other animals, whether in zoos and pets, have contracted the disease in the United States. The maximum case is not unusual for swollen lions and tigers at the Bronx Zoo in April.
The CDC also reported that a small number of pets in the United States, in addition to dogs and cats, were inflamed with the COVID-19-culpable virus, mainly after close contact with others with the disease.
The Arctic may not be the only position where it is vulnerable to COVID-19. In Africa, employees of the Nweeia team have also begun reading the Ugandan lowland gorilla, a species that Nweeia says “could disappear” if a single gorilla contracts the disease.
In addition to identifying the threat posed by COVID-19 to wildlife, the Nweeia team will also investigate possible routes of human-to-wildlife transmission.
The virus that causes COVID-19 may also be in wastewater, and the researchers will examine the effect on how untreated water can have effects on the possible spread of the virus in wildlife.
“This study is about saving his blood, not the reaction,” Nweeia said in a statement. “As much as it can happen, we strive to get ahead of and save disorders. “