Researchers more or less grossed out and frighten New Yorkers when they claimed there weretraces of the bubonic plagueon the tube . But a recent correction , by the writer themselves , suggests there was never any real need to worry .
A few calendar month ago , researcher fromWeill Cornell Medical Collegeanalyzed the different bacteria find oneself across the New York City subway system . The findings , published in the journalCell Systems , were actually quite interesting . investigator found a turn of different organisms from the sherd of deoxyribonucleic acid they collected , and almost half of these DNA sequences did n’t equalize any screw specie . The problem lies with the microbes researcher affiliate with the bubonic plague and anthrax .
Christopher Mason and his research squad initially claim that the bacteriaYersinia pestis , which causes the infestation , was establish on the subway and suggested that “ they likely represent normal cobalt - habitants of a apportion urban infrastructure [ that ] may even be essential to maintain such an environment and likely comprise a normal , ‘ sizable ’ metagenome profile of a city . ”
TheCenters for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC ) and theNew York City Department of Health and Mental Hygienewere quick to dispute the “ arresting ” and “ unfounded ” claims made by researcher in the study . In their criticism , also publish inCell Systems , public health expert say the “ author ’ suggestion that humankind and plague bacilli have ' interacted ( and potentially evolved ) ' in NYC is unfounded and without scientific virtue . ”
They argue that the “ deeply flawed study that do speculative , ballyhoo artist , and headline - grab claims in reality can detract from the subdued , ongoing , science - based campaign to guarantee decisive infrastructure in NYC and elsewhere . ”
Mason and his research squad did indicate out in the initial study that “ the results do not suggest that the plague or anthrax is predominant , nor do they suggest that NYC residents are at risk , ” but have go on to backtrack against the claims rebut by the CDC and New York ’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene .
The researcher note in the late discipline that “ there is no unassailable evidence to evoke these being are in fact present , and no grounds of pathogenicity . ”
“ This is not a retraction , ” Mason secernate theWall Street Journal . “ There was no demerit obtain by the editor or the journal or other scientists in the way the data was gathered and analyse . It was explicitly a problem of interpretation . ”
[ H / T : Retraction Watch ]
