Zürcher Nachrichten - Much-maligned rats unlikely to spark next pandemic: study

EUR -
AED 3.833929
AFN 72.964627
ALL 98.46974
AMD 410.482288
ANG 1.873176
AOA 958.225718
ARS 1067.049356
AUD 1.666857
AWG 1.878875
AZN 1.774753
BAM 1.956192
BBD 2.098621
BDT 124.204899
BGN 1.955601
BHD 0.393707
BIF 3072.916014
BMD 1.043819
BND 1.411583
BOB 7.18244
BRL 6.345171
BSD 1.039408
BTN 88.363714
BWP 14.36588
BYN 3.401482
BYR 20458.857295
BZD 2.089319
CAD 1.499044
CDF 2995.761523
CHF 0.932872
CLF 0.037419
CLP 1032.493641
CNY 7.618524
CNH 7.626712
COP 4582.366506
CRC 524.405125
CUC 1.043819
CUP 27.66121
CVE 110.288166
CZK 25.107024
DJF 185.087104
DKK 7.457963
DOP 63.292688
DZD 140.787225
EGP 53.141149
ERN 15.657289
ETB 129.565873
FJD 2.416861
FKP 0.826686
GBP 0.830192
GEL 2.932544
GGP 0.826686
GHS 15.279063
GIP 0.826686
GMD 75.155158
GNF 8979.80014
GTQ 8.008605
GYD 217.453592
HKD 8.110632
HNL 26.384289
HRK 7.487217
HTG 135.977259
HUF 413.947568
IDR 16892.022536
ILS 3.800124
IMP 0.826686
INR 88.789872
IQD 1361.572948
IRR 43931.739655
ISK 145.100882
JEP 0.826686
JMD 162.6226
JOD 0.740171
JPY 163.472813
KES 134.652506
KGS 90.812117
KHR 4176.837312
KMF 486.550268
KPW 939.436741
KRW 1514.367737
KWD 0.321486
KYD 0.866174
KZT 545.859426
LAK 22749.560501
LBP 93075.658456
LKR 305.161174
LRD 188.647817
LSL 19.135536
LTL 3.082127
LVL 0.631396
LYD 5.107024
MAD 10.460797
MDL 19.144838
MGA 4903.983079
MKD 61.525545
MMK 3390.284206
MNT 3546.897675
MOP 8.320868
MRU 41.336286
MUR 48.913424
MVR 16.053629
MWK 1801.846919
MXN 20.952657
MYR 4.68883
MZN 66.703943
NAD 19.135536
NGN 1614.214134
NIO 38.247667
NOK 11.807501
NPR 141.382342
NZD 1.845201
OMR 0.401881
PAB 1.039408
PEN 3.870376
PGK 4.214845
PHP 61.194942
PKR 289.308896
PLN 4.260197
PYG 8104.624697
QAR 3.78906
RON 4.974944
RSD 116.979037
RUB 107.409252
RWF 1448.890453
SAR 3.92095
SBD 8.750916
SCR 14.556008
SDG 627.860716
SEK 11.499026
SGD 1.414476
SHP 0.826686
SLE 23.801056
SLL 21888.370918
SOS 594.01908
SRD 36.670438
STD 21604.951007
SVC 9.094823
SYP 2622.627433
SZL 19.130835
THB 35.739849
TJS 11.370679
TMT 3.663806
TND 3.311964
TOP 2.444727
TRY 36.745676
TTD 7.054414
TWD 34.11671
TZS 2520.823735
UAH 43.591038
UGX 3812.764328
USD 1.043819
UYU 46.359293
UZS 13400.686375
VES 53.730883
VND 26550.586436
VUV 123.924312
WST 2.883851
XAF 656.088523
XAG 0.035222
XAU 0.000398
XCD 2.820974
XDR 0.792859
XOF 656.088523
XPF 119.331742
YER 261.346218
ZAR 19.100702
ZMK 9395.631657
ZMW 28.764766
ZWL 336.109373
  • GSK

    0.1700

    33.6

    +0.51%

  • CMSD

    0.0000

    23.56

    0%

  • AZN

    0.9100

    65.35

    +1.39%

  • NGG

    0.8200

    58.5

    +1.4%

  • BTI

    0.1131

    36.24

    +0.31%

  • CMSC

    0.0200

    23.86

    +0.08%

  • RIO

    -0.0900

    58.64

    -0.15%

  • RBGPF

    59.9600

    59.96

    +100%

  • SCS

    -0.5800

    11.74

    -4.94%

  • BP

    0.1900

    28.6

    +0.66%

  • BCE

    0.0500

    23.16

    +0.22%

  • BCC

    -0.2600

    122.75

    -0.21%

  • RELX

    -0.3100

    45.47

    -0.68%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    8.39

    +0.12%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    7.27

    -0.14%

  • JRI

    0.1100

    12.06

    +0.91%

Much-maligned rats unlikely to spark next pandemic: study
Much-maligned rats unlikely to spark next pandemic: study / Photo: Kazuhiro NOGI - AFP/File

Much-maligned rats unlikely to spark next pandemic: study

Rats have been seen as filthy disease-spreaders since at least the time of the plague, but new research shows that rodents and other city-dwelling animals are less likely to cause the next pandemic than previously thought.

Text size:

Researchers at Georgetown University in Washington DC studied data on about nearly 3,000 mammals, expecting to find that those living in urban environments hosted more viruses that could be caught by humans, because they were in such close contact.

They found that urban animals did in fact carry 10 times as many kinds of disease -- but also that more than 100 times as many studies had been published about them.

When the researchers corrected for this massive bias -- a long-standing scientific preference to study animals scuttling under our feet rather than hiding in rainforests -- they were surprised to find that rats were no more likely to be the source of a new human disease than other animals.

However, "it's still not good idea to get too close and friendly to urban wildlife," said Greg Albery, a disease ecologist who led the study published in the Nature Ecology and Evolution journal on Monday.

"These urban animals are unlikely to be the source of the next 'Disease X', but they're still often a source of well-known important diseases," he told AFP, giving the example of leptospirosis, a bacterial disease commonly spread by rats.

The threat from another common target of city disdain -- the pigeon -- was "almost certainly" also exaggerated due to research bias, he said.

Because we have been studying animals living in cities for so long, "we know so much about their parasites that there are relatively few unknowns there; rural wildlife is much more uncertain and more likely to provide us with the next 'Big Threat'."

Jonathan Richardson, a professor of urban ecology at the University of Richmond, said it was an important study because the authors "rightfully highlight the over-representation of data coming from urban mammal research".

But he told AFP that it is still fair to describe rats as "disease sponges" because humans are in such regular contact with them.

Richardson said his research has found that urban rats harbour more than 200 pathogens and parasites that could jump over to humans, while nearly 80 percent of rats in some cities carry leptospirosis.

- 'Important pathway into humans' -

Albery and his study co-author Colin Carlson published research last week showing climate change could increase the risk of new epidemics.

They found that as animals like bats flee to cooler areas, they will mingle with other species for the first time and create new opportunities for diseases that could later infect humans.

Albery said urban mammals could play a role in that process.

"If a bat meets a rat and gives it a novel disease, and then if that rat has greater access to human areas, that provides an important pathway into humans," he said.

His global warming research also showed that new opportunities for viruses to jump between animals would now take place closer to populated areas, rather in forests.

"The host-pathogen network is about to change substantially, so what we know now about urban parasites is likely to become outdated quickly," Albery said.

"We need improved surveillance both in urban and wild animals so that we can identify when a pathogen has jumped from one species to another -- and if the receiving host is urban or in close proximity to humans, we should get particularly concerned."

B.Brunner--NZN