In what the cogitation authors believe is the USA ’s first large - scale assessment ofavian fluin an urban bird population , a modest numeral of fantastic birds in New York City have been found to be infected with the extremely pathogenic H5N1 strain . While we typically consider the risk to humans to be greatest in rural areas , around options such as domestic fowl farm , the work highlights the motive for awareness of other routes to exposure .
The field authors stress that the news is no cause for alarm , and that there ’s no reason to believe theNYCpublic is at substantial hazard . “ It is of import to cite that , because we found H5N1 in city bird , this does not betoken the start of a human flu pandemic . We know that H5N1 has been around in New York City for about two years and there have been no human cases reported , ” said co - source Dr Christine Marizzi in astatement .
Indeed , local wellness authoritieshave been warning residents to direct absolved of any birds that appear to be ill , and to report sighting of sick or numb chick for some time . This melodic phrase of H5N1 has been hitting the headlines in late months after outbreaks incattleon dairy farms in several states guide to report ofhumansandcatsbecoming infected .
Marizzi , who heads the New York City Virus Hunters Program , and the research team got the community involved in their projection to get a better sense of whether and how the virus may be circulating in NYC ’s urban bird population .
“ Birds are key to finding out which influenza and other avian virus are circulating in the New York City area , as well as significant for understanding which ones can be unsafe to both other birds and homo , ” Marizzi aver . “ And we require more eyes on the footing – that ’s why community liaison is really critical . ”
The programme was born out of a coaction between the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai , the Wild Bird Fund , andBioBus , an initiative that bring the lab to communities of bookman that have been historically underrepresented in scientific discipline with the help of a converted shoal bus .
Local high school students work as pay interns with expert scientist to help mentor them . They ’re given all the necessary protective gear to go out into the area and take in bird faecal samples , which they then help shield for viruses . Samples are also donated from animal welfare center field .
Between January 2022 and November 2023 , the Virus Hunters gather 1,927 sample distribution . The H5N1 virus form was blame up in samples from six individual birds , representing four different specie : Canada geese(Branta canadensis ) , red - tailed hawk ( Buteo jamaicensis),peregrine falcons(Falco peregrinus ) , and chickens ( Gallus gallus domesticus ) .
Analysis showed that two different genotypes of H5N1 were present , and that both were a smorgasbord of the 2.3.4.4b clade that ’s been distribute in the US since winter 2021 - 22 and autochthonic North American strains . Many migratory birds hold back over in New York during theirlong journeying , which create the ideal opportunity for different virus strains to ruffle .
While the risk to the world-wide populace remains low , it ’s still authoritative for hoi polloi to be aware that there are likely route of transmitting of avian flu even in urban area , and that residents sleep together how to protect themselves .
The substance from Marizzi is that it ’s unremarkably skilful to steer clear of large groups of wild birds : “ It ’s fresh to stay alert and stay by from wildlife . This also include preventing your pet from getting in airless contact lens with wildlife . ”
The study is published in theJournal of Virology .
