Between pigs and swine flu, birds and bird flu, and bats and…the unmentionable virus…we’ve certainly had an eventful last few decades. And now, scientists are warning that city birds like crows and ducks could be carriers of deadly bacteria.
So don’t go picking up any pigeons you see in the city…
A new study reveals how city-dwelling birds like crows and pigeons have slowly become “reservoirs” of deadly bacteria that could not only kill a human but are also resistant to commonly used antibiotics. Scientists say that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has developed among bacteria on the birds as a result of the overuse of antibiotic drugs on humans and livestock.
As humans have grown more dependent on the use of antibiotics, bacteria have grown increasingly resistant to the medication. It’s a problem scientists have known for some time, but one that has become increasingly difficult to resolve as farming operations and medical centers have become more dependent on the drugs.
The study, published in the Current Biology journal, revealed that wild birds living close to humans contain a more varied range of bacterial strains and as much as three times more AMR genes than birds who live outside of cities.
Professor Samuel Sheppard, the co-author of the Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial Research study, said that their findings are significant because city-dwelling birds are still capable of traveling long distances and could ultimately spread disease in other areas across the United Kingdom, where the study was conducted, or elsewhere in the world.
American scientists are taking it increasingly seriously. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control,at least 2.8 million people in the United States are infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria every year—and out of those, some 35,000 on average die per year. Since the 2020 pandemic, antibiotic use has increased more rapidly, too. Between 2021 and 2022, six kinds of bacterial hospital-onset infections saw an increase of 20% in resistance compared to pre-pandemic levels.
But where is the bacteria on city-dwelling birds come from? Researchers believe it could be a result of their exposure to polluted rivers, landfill sites, and trash.
