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New Yorkers are being urged to stay away from wildlife after bird flu was discovered in New York, amid fears the disease could spread to humans.
Geese, hawks and falcons that live in Manhattan parks and green spaces have tested positive for the virus, officials say, warning that cases could be more widespread.
Residents and visitors are warned not to chase or attempt to catch birds and to wash their hands after any contact with droppings.
There are fears that humans could be infected after a Texas farmer tested positive for the virus earlier this month, becoming the second US case in history.
Experts say each case in people increases the risk of the virus acquiring mutations that allow it to better infect and spread among humans.
Geese, falcons and falcons that live in Manhattan parks and green spaces have tested positive for the virus, officials say, although cases could be more widespread (file image)
The birds, including a chicken, tested positive for the virus in Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem, northern Manhattan.
Warning people to be careful around the animals, Mount Sinai microbiologist Philip Meade said: “If you walk past a sick goose and get bird flu, it won’t work that way.”
‘[But] The precautions everyone should take would be to simply limit contact with wildlife.
“You shouldn’t run up to a Canada goose and try to catch it, [for example].’
Bird flu has been detected in 12 flocks of wild birds in seven states over the past month, half of them in Texas.
Five domestic poultry flocks in four states, two of them in Texas, have also reported the virus. This includes a large chicken farm and a turkey farm.
But there is serious concern it will spread to animals in close contact with humans, including livestock, with 20 herds now infected, as well as cats and dogs.
The map above shows states where bird flu was detected in wild flocks in March.
The map above shows states with cattle herds that have been diagnosed with bird flu.
This has raised concerns that the virus could infect people more frequently and potentially acquire mutations that allow it to better infect humans.
The Texas patient was described as suffering from a “mild illness” with only one symptom: inflammation of the eyeball.
They were isolated and reported to be recovering well at home. There are no signs that they have transmitted the disease to others.
However, doctors have been told to be on high alert for more cases among farmworkers, with some saying mild symptoms mean infections could go undetected.
A mutation was recorded in the Texas case, but this did not alarm officials and has been previously recorded in cases where the virus infected mammals.
Of the 20 infected cattle herds, most are in Texas.
Herds in Idaho, Kansas, Michigan. New Mexico and Ohio also tested positive for the disease.
Experts are unclear how the virus spread to livestock, but there are suggestions that this could be due to livestock eating feed created from ground up chicken carcasses.
They fear it may have been transmitted to livestock through ‘poultry droppings’, which is a mixture of bird droppings, spilled feed, feathers and other debris scraped from the floors of industrial chicken and turkey production plants. .
Other theories have suggested that the virus may have spread among herds through cow milking machines that were not disinfected between uses.