Rats in New York, of which there are about 8 million, were susceptible to three Covid-19 optionsaccording to new study published today in mBioopen access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

New evidence suggests that coronavirus can be transmitted from humans to urban rodents on a large scale.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has concluded that transmission of Covid from animals to humans is rare, noting that in most cases animals are infected by humans.

However, as study leader Dr. Henry Wang notes, the new findings highlight the need for further study of the risk of the virus “in rat populations to determine whether the virus is circulating in animals and evolving into new strains that are potentially harmful to humans.”

Wang, director of the University of Missouri Center for Influenza and Infectious Diseases, said the study was one of the first to show how variants of Covid-19 “can infect rat populations in large U.S. metropolitan areas.”

Studies on rats in Hong Kong and Belgium have shown that the rodents were exposed to the virus that causes Covid-19, although it is not clear which variant.

During the study, scientists conducted virological studies and genome sequencing on samples of 79 rats.

They caught rats mainly in Brooklyn parks, “in areas surrounded by sewer systems,” with the permission of the relevant municipal authorities.

From the studied rodents 13 (16.5%) were diagnosed with coronavirus.. The researchers then found that Alpha, Delta, and Omicron variants caused infections in Sprague Dawley rats.

Given their huge population in the Big Apple, relative to their total number would mean that more than 1.3 million rats in New York could be positive for the coronavirus.

“Overall, our work in this area shows that animals may play a role in human pandemics,” the researchers note, adding that “it is important to continue to develop our knowledge so that we can protect human and animal health.”

Source: Guardian