A new study has found that rats in New York City may have been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. Guardian informed of. There are about 8 million rats in New York City, and they have ample opportunities to interact with people, the researchers said.
The findings, published March 9 in mBio, an open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, said New York City rats are susceptible to three Covid variants. The mice collected in the study tested positive for alpha, delta and omicron variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. For the study, the group trapped rats in locations mostly in and around wastewater systems in Brooklyn. The biologists found that 13 out of 79 mice (16.5%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.
“To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first studies to show a SARS-CoV-2 variant can cause infection in a population of wild rats in a major US urban area,” said Dr. said Henry Wan, principal investigator of the study.
However, it is not entirely clear how mice contract SARS-CoV-2 or whether they pose a particular threat to human health.
Dr Wan said, “Our findings highlight the need for further monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 in mouse populations to determine whether the virus is circulating in animals and evolving into new strains that are more likely to infect humans.” could pose a risk.”
“Overall, our work in this area shows that animals can play a role in pandemics affecting humans, and it is important that we continue to advance our understanding so that we can protect both human and animal health,” he said. Can.
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said that transmission of Covid from animals to humans is rare.
”There is no evidence that animals play a significant role in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to people. The CDC notes on its website that there have been some reports of the virus spreading to people during close contact with infected mammalian animals, but this is very rare.
Earlier, studies on mice in Hong Kong and Belgium were found to have been exposed to the virus behind Covid, however, the studies were inconclusive regarding the variant. Animals such as cats, dogs, primates, hippopotamuses, deer and anteaters are among those that have previously reported cases of COVID-19 infection.
[Disclaimer: This story was automatically generated by a computer program and was not created or edited by Journalpur Staff. Publisher: Journalpur.com]
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