New viruses that are carried by New York rats have been discovered by scientists.
New York Times reported that a research team from Columbia University discovered many pathogens from 133 rats they caught. Among the new viruses they found is the Seoul hantavirus. Researchers claim that this virus is not known to exist in New York, until now. Professor Ian Lipkin and his peers published their findings in the mBio Journal. Lipkin is a neurology and pathology professor at Columbia University.
Some of these viruses that were recently discovered are still new to most, if not all, medical doctors and scientists. A number of these pathogens can cause food-borne sickness or ailments. Scientists have yet to prove if residents of New York are getting sick via contact with the virus carrying rats.
Cadhla Firth was one of the members of Dr Lipkin's research team and she described how difficult it was to catch New York rats since they are much more "wilier" than most rats. Once caught, researchers immediately take sample of the rat's organs, including feces, urine and blood.
The researchers describe the process in which they first look for the common disease associated with rats. During this process they discovered food poison causing bacteria such as Salmonella and E. Coli. The latter is more deadly since it causes horrible diarrhea. Fever causing pathogens such as Seoul hantavirus and Leptospira were also found.
Fortunately, the Yersinia Pestis was not among those found in New York rats. This particular germ is responsible for the bubonic plague.
The new viruses that have become a center of focus among the medical community are the ones that shares similar traits with Hepatitis C. Although people could not contract Hepatitis from rats, researchers are eager to find out how the rats can fight off this disease. If the scientists are successful in their quest, this could end the suffering of more than 150 million people from Hepatitis and other related disease.
