The findings suggest that the coronavirus could be transmitted from humans to the city’s rodents at scale. They come as comments from the director of the FBI reignite a fierce debate in the US about the disease’s presumed origins – with suspicion once again falling on a Chinese lab.
Image:It is not known whether the New York City rat pictured ever had COVID
Millions of rats living across New York City are susceptible to COVID-19, researchers have found.
Like humans, the rodents have proved vulnerable to multiple variants of the virus, from the original to Omicron, including high levels of infection in their upper and lower airways.
A World Health Organization (WHO) report in 2021 concluded that the coronavirus is “likely” to have been transmitted from bats to humans via an unknown animal.
Since then, instances of human-to-animal transmission have been reported – including in pets.
Researchers at the University of Missouri looked into whether New York‘s rats could be infected, given the huge number which call the city their home.
There are approximately eight million wild rats in the Big Apple, and they are also widely distributed in other urban areas across the US.
The peer-reviewed study, published in the American Society for Microbiology’s mBio journal, said it was vital to determine whether wild animals could be infected at scale to keep track of how the virus might evolve.
Image:New York City set up temporary hospitals at the peak of the pandemic in 2020
Work can help track if virus ‘evolving’
Dr Wan, who specialises in emerging infectious diseases, said the findings reinforced the joint role that humans and animals can play during a pandemic.
“It’s important that we continue to increase our understanding so we can protect both human and animal health,” added the professor.
“Our findings highlight the need for further monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 in rat populations to determine if the virus is circulating in the animals and evolving into new strains that could pose a risk to humans.”
Previous research has warned that as transmission wanes in society, COVID among animals may become an “increasingly important […] potential source” of the virus being reintroduced to humans.
However, the presumed zoonotic (animal to human) origins of the virus have been called into question in recent weeks after the FBI’s director revealed the US intelligence agency believes it “most likely” came from a Chinese lab leak.
The theory has been peddled ever since the initial outbreak in Wuhan, China, more than three years ago, but the WHO’s official position is that it remains “extremely unlikely”.
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Source: news.sky.com
