STATEN ISLAND, NY — The coronavirus has made its way to New York City’s notorious residents — rats.
According to the New York Post, researchers studying mysterious mutations in the coronavirus (COVID-19) found signs of the virus in New York City’s rat population. It has raised concerns that the disease could spread from rodents to humans.
Scientists from the University of Missouri and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) identified the virus in rats in New York City in a paper published last week – noting that they are susceptible to alpha, delta and omicron variants of COVID-19 are. according to the post.
dr Julianna Lenoch, the USDA-APHIS Center national coordinator and co-author of the paper, said the researchers on the latest study caught and tested nearly 80 Norwegian rats in Brooklyn and found that more than 16% of them had antibodies they were to the virus suspended, The Post reported.
They also used PCR tests on the lungs of the rats they caught, and just over 5% tested positive for COVID-19.
However, the researchers could not find any evidence that the species could transmit COVID-19.
The researchers also found that another species of rodent commonly used for research, Sprague-Dawley rats, can be infected with the same coronavirus variants – meaning they have the potential for transmission.
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