We currently have a rabies alert in South Africa.
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Each mammal is scary because of rabies, Iâm personally afraid of hedgehogs for that reason, who knows when theyâll try to bite you.
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Thank you for posting that link. Interesting graph - showing that half of the bat observations show no gloves.
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I agree, most of the viral transfer thus far has been mostly one way - human to animal. But there has definitely been conclusive proof of minks back into humans. And widespread seropositivity in white-tailed deer isnât comfortingâŚsee https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02110-8
Some more recent human variants are shown to not only jump into animals but spread to other animals from there. See a more recent paper on the topic here: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2021.1651
I think that a friendly reminder PSA recommending that all iNatters wear a mask and gloves when interacting with wild mammals is a good one, in light of that paper. Some elementary school students on iNaturalist are yet to be vaccinated and love taking photos of themselves with animals (I have seen wild deer mice photos of this very thing). I want them to keep and grow that enthusiasm for wildlife, but I want to reduce spillover possibility however possible, both for the animals, and for the children. Masking, gloving, distance etcâŚ
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but that is the responsibility of parents and teachers?
To teach kids to treat living animals with respect. From a social distance.
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I think the next one to watch for jumping from animals back into humans (other than from mink where mink mortality is high) is from animals that are definitely spreading it to each other. White tailed deer. Next most concerning is deer mice (P1, B1.1.351) . And I have seen some anecdotal evidence on Github https://github.com/cov-lineages/pango-designation/issues/343 of omicron being one residue different from binding rhesus macques ACE2 - scroll through those notes - (but we will see what South African rhesus macques researchers say) Wonât hold my breathâŚ
Yes. Teachers and parents, for sure. Some kids might be taking photos unsupervisedâŚI see no harm in a general warning against unmasked ungloved interactions with wildlife in general, though?
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I think touching wild animals by bare hands should be prohibited, when mouse or bat enters in my house my father always used a thick towel to catch them and release them in wild, and I also think we should stop hurting by doing hiking or something because forest is decreasing day by day sot they are becoming quite unstable, so if we try to do hiking or something in forest that can harm them. I have seen people who cut trees and branches to make tents in forest and make fire to eat, hunt wild boars to eat, kill snakes. I know people want to be close to forest but that is not the way, it was the way when forset were safe, now if we roam in forest we probably can disturb the forest by crushing rare plants by our foot which can be host plant to some butterfly or something.
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Also, another one of OPâs concerns was people approaching dead animals. Do we have information on how long COVID-19 viruses remain active in dead bodies?
Youâre not going to get Covid from an animal unless it breathes directly in your face, and you shouldnât be having wild animals breathing into your face.
Thereâs probably some risk if butchering an animal (since you might force air out of the lungs), but there are far, FAR nastier things you can get from an animal regardless. Raccoons carry brain parasites, for one thing, and then thereâs always rabies. Not to mention that people keep getting the Black Death because they get too close to a burrowing rodent and get it from a flea.
Donât handle wild mammals without protective equipment, period. Reptiles, eh, youâre probably okay if you wash your hands (assuming itâs nonvenomous and not toxic to the touch), but you probably shouldnât be holding them anyway.
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And immediately I thought of Hantavirus. That one can kill you faster than COVID.
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Agreed. In most cases when out iNatting in the open air youâre not going to be at risk of disease. Things to avoid are enclosed areas with abundant bat guano or bird guano (risk of histoplasmosis) or with abundant rodent droppings (hantavirus risk), unless youâre equipped with a respirator. Donât approach a wild mammal that appears to be ill or is acting strangely, such as approaching you (possible rabies). Donât handle carcasses of dead mammals that might carry rabies, sylvatic plague, or possibly another disease. If you find a dead bat or another mammal, leave it where it is; but if itâs in a public area, use a stick to put it into a bag and dispose in an outdoor garbage can. (You can bury it unless there is chance it could be dug up by a dog.) If you plan to handle live bats or carnivores (such as part of your work) get the rabies vaccinations. A few simple precautions generally are all that is necessary.
Dealing with biting insects ⌠thatâs another story.
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I havenât handled a bat since before the pandemic, but yeah, bite-resistant gloves and latex gloves, which might be difficult to wear both. I would wear a thin leather golferâs glove when removing a bat from a mist-net. Generally pretty adequate protection except for one Big Brown Bat that bit me through it although just barely. Needed a rabies booster after that, just in case.
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Iâd extend âdonât approach mammals that are acting strangelyâ to âdonât approach mammals, periodâ. Too many diseases you can catch (or transmit!) with the animal looking outwardly healthy, and besides that, mammals bite, scratch, and do not like to be approached.
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I fear about pet keeper who keeps birds, rats, dogs and cats because they are very close to animals, like they sleep in same bed and there interaction is quite close(which is not natural for me), can it be dangerous too?
Potentially, yes. Psittacosis, or parrot fever, is a bird disease that people can get from living in proximity to birds, and there are diseases of cats and dogs that can be harmful to humans (if you are pregnant, please have somebody else clean the catâs litter box). But with that said, with lots of people sharing their beds with cats or dogs, we donât hear of this causing major disease outbreaks.
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But the concern is more that COVID infected people, are infecting other animals.
Various reports of zoo animals too.
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While there have been a few well-publicized reports of zoo animals catching COVID, it is very rare and has only happened a handful of times.
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Well, your pets shouldnât be doing anything that could let them get COVID either. They shouldnât be free-roaming, and I donât think there are many circumstances where both owner and pet would be out and about, the pet would be exposed, and the owner wouldnât.
About the only thing I can think of is if the pet goes into a vet clinic, is exposed to a sick veterinarian, and then takes the disease home to the owner. And thatâs probably pretty uncommon, since one must assume veterinarians generally have some sense about things like not going to work while sick in the middle of a pandemic.
It has not been confirmed that rodents of any kind can carry COVID.