Bird flu found in NYC park — avoid wildlife: health experts

US News

By Natalie O’Neill

New Yorkers should stay away from wildlife after several cases of bird flu were found in a Manhattan park, health experts warned Wednesday.

Wild geese, a peregrine falcon and a red-tailed hawk tested positive for the virus in Marcus Garvey Park in Manhattan, according to CBS.

A chicken was also found carrying the disease in the same green space, Philip Meade, a postdoctoral researcher at the Icahn School of Medicine, told the outlet.

“The precautions that everyone should take would be to simply limit contact with wildlife,” he said. “You shouldn’t run up to a Canada goose and try to catch it.”

But he added: “You’re not going to walk past a sick goose and get bird flu.” It won’t work like that.

New Yorkers should also wash their hands after contact with bird droppings, experts said.

Over the past month, the virus has been detected in 12 flocks of wild birds across seven states, the majority of which were in Texas.

The disease has also been found in domestic poultry.

There are no signs of avian flu spreading to humans at this time, the CDC said.

In the past two years, only two people have been infected with the disease, also known as H5N1, in the United States.

The patients – from Texas and Colorado respectively – had been in contact with farm animals, including chickens, according to the CDC.