Mutant deer with horrifying flesh bubbles spotted in US as fears of an outbreak grip the nation

Daily Mail​

6 hours ago

Deer across the US have been spotted with tumor-like growths hanging off their bodies, joining rabbits and squirrels as animals showing signs of widespread disease.
From the Northeast to the Pacific Northwest, pictures on social media continue to document cases of strange bubbles growing all over local deer, from their faces to their legs.
Over the last two months, people have photographed deformed deer in New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Wildlife officials have already identified the condition as deer cutaneous fibroma, better known as deer warts.
The condition is due to a virus transmitted between deer in all parts of the US, and experts have warned that it's spreading this summer.
The virus mainly spreads through disease-carrying insects like mosquitoes and ticks, which pass on the blood of infected deer to healthy animals nearby.
Since these potentially deadly pests breed and multiply in warmer weather, Americans should expect to see more cases of the condition wherever deer may live.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said: 'Papillomas are most frequently seen during the late summer and into the fall, probably due to increased biting insect activity during this time of year.'
This year, Americans have also been encountering mutated rabbits and squirrels which have been spreading their own species-specific viruses throughout the US. These animals have dealt with similar sores and growths on their bodies as well.
The condition spreading through deer this summer is part of the same broad family of viruses that can affect humans, known as papillomaviruses, which target the skin and mucous membranes.
In humans, papillomaviruses cause conditions like common warts, plantar warts, and genital warts, and some strains are linked to cancers such as cervical or throat cancer.
While both deer and human papillomaviruses lead to growths by infecting skin cells, the deer version is species-specific, meaning it's adapted only to infect deer and cannot jump to humans or other animals due to differences in how the virus attaches itself and enters cells in different species.
Deer warts can be small, like a pea, or grow as big as a football, appearing gray, black, or fleshy and often hairless.
While disease-transmitting insects are believed to be the main culprit spreading the virus, direct contact with the warts may also infect deer.
Dr Kristin Mansfield, a wildlife veterinarian in Washington state, told FOX13 that deer can spread the virus if they share the same feeding areas, sleeping spot, or rubbing posts - usually a tree males use to mark their territory during mating season.
Deer warts are found across the entire range of white-tailed deer in North America, so they're common throughout the US, with no specific state being much more affected than others.
However, the condition is rarely fatal. The deer's immune system fights off the virus, and the warts shrink and disappear on their own after a few months.
In rare cases, if the warts grow too large or become infected with bacteria, they can cause problems like blocking a deer's vision or ability to eat.
One medical expert told the Daily Mail that Americans should expect diseases like this to continue spreading as temperatures get warmer throughout more of the year.
Dr Omer Awan of the University of Maryland School of Medicine explained that climate change has allowed mosquitoes and ticks to live longer and also spread to areas they don't normally inhabit.
While deer can't spread deer warts to people, they can bring illnesses such as Lyme disease to populated areas, which is passed on to humans through the ticks they carry.
'These temperature changes are resulting in diseases that were never endemic in certain areas to become endemic,' Dr Awan said.
'If you take a look at Lyme disease, for example, we're starting to see it in areas that we never saw it before... places like southern Canada, northern states on the East Coast, like Maine,' he added.
Deer warts are not a new condition afflicting wildlife. Scientists believe it has been around for centuries, and studies on papillomaviruses affecting wildlife in the US go back to the 1950s.
While climate changes in recent years are helping the virus to spread, Dr Awan noted that there's one other factor contributing to the increase in deer wart sightings: social media.
'People are starting to talk about it more, they're starting to document it more on social media, and hence, there's been a lot more discussion about this,' the doctor explained.