There are now "zombie" pigeons in Moscow. What's going on here?

According to the British "Guardian" reported on August 19, a large number of pigeons died in Moscow recently, and the diseases of these pigeons may spread among humans. Recently, some media and blogs in Moscow reported that some pigeons would become like "zombies" and fall from the sky and die.

The Moscow Environmental Procuratorate has ordered environmental protection and municipal agencies to investigate this. Experts found that these pigeons have these strange symptoms because they are infected with Newcastle disease, which can be transmitted to humans. A science columnist wrote on the website: "Before they died, these pigeons were like zombies: they lost their sense of direction, flew around, and then fell from the air, and they could never stand up." Salmonella was also found in some dead birds. But no more dangerous diseases such as bird flu and psittacosis were found.

Newcastle disease virus will seriously affect the respiratory system, digestive system and nervous system of poultry. It is highly contagious in poultry and is an infectious disease with high mortality. Salmonella exists in infected animals and their feces. Typical symptoms of people infected with Salmonella are fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps.

Although there is no large-scale poultry plague at present, experts worry that hot weather will lead to the spread of germs and may threaten human health.

Newcastle disease virus (NDV)

This is a disease of domestic animals and wild birds. This disease is caused by paramyxovirus. This virus can attack the intestine, stomach, respiratory system and nervous system. With different virus types, Newcastle disease (deleted) can lead to clinical infection, and the mortality rate is as high as 100% when infected birds have no symptoms or a series of symptoms.

Birds of all ages are likely to be infected, but the mortality rate of young birds is the highest.

Newcastle flu is widely spread among domestic poultry (ducks, geese, turkeys), quails, pigeons, pheasants and many wild and domestic birds. All kinds of birds are easy to be infected with Newcastle disease (NDV), and different birds have different possibilities to be infected with specific NDV. But all species are sources of infection for other species.

Data and picture sources

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