[birdsofbombay] Fw: New paper on AI and wild birds
Subject: [birdsofbombay] Fw: New paper on AI and wild birds
From: Taej Mundkur
Date: Thu, Feb 9, 2012, 3:55 PM
Dear all,
Happy to inform you that a new paper based on
a waterbird migration study related to avian influenza has been published on the
online journal PLoS ONE from where it can be freely downloaded at http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0030636.This is yet another publication from our ongoing cooperative
research initiated between
FAO, USGS, WI, BNHS and many others (as reflected by the number of coauthors).
Eco-Virological Approach for Assessing the Role of Wild
Birds in the Spread of Avian Influenza H5N1 along the Central Asian Flyway
Scott H. Newman, Nichola J. Hill, Kyle A. Spragens,
Daniel Janies, Igor O. Voronkin, Diann J. Prosser, Baoping Yan, Fumin Lei,
Nyambayar Batbayar, Tseveenmyadag Natsagdorj, Charles M. Bishop, Patrick J.
Butler, Martin Wikelski, Sivananinthaperumal Balachandran, Taej Mundkur, David
C. Douglas, John Y. Takekawa
A unique pattern of highly pathogenic avian influenza
(HPAI) H5N1 outbreaks has emerged along the Central Asia Flyway, where
infection of wild birds has been reported with steady frequency since 2005. We
assessed the potential for two hosts of HPAI H5N1, the bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) and ruddy shelduck (Tadorna tadorna), to act as agents for virus
dispersal along this ‘thoroughfare’. We used an eco-virological approach to
compare the migration of 141 birds marked with GPS satellite transmitters
during 2005–2010 with: 1) the spatio-temporal patterns of poultry and wild bird
outbreaks of HPAI H5N1, and 2) the trajectory of the virus in the outbreak
region based on phylogeographic mapping. We found that biweekly utilization
distributions (UDs) for 19.2% of bar-headed geese and 46.2% of ruddy shelduck
were significantly associated with outbreaks. Ruddy shelduck showed highest
correlation with poultry outbreaks owing to their wintering distribution in South Asia, where there is considerable opportunity for
HPAI H5N1 spillover from poultry. Both species showed correlation with wild
bird outbreaks during the spring migration, suggesting they may be involved in
the northward movement of the virus. However, phylogeographic mapping of HPAI
H5N1 clades 2.2 and 2.3 did not support dissemination of the virus in a
northern direction along the migration corridor. In particular, two subclades
(2.2.1 and 2.3.2) moved in a strictly southern direction in contrast to our
spatio-temporal analysis of bird migration. Our attempt to reconcile the
disciplines of wild bird ecology and HPAI H5N1 virology highlights prospects
offered by both approaches as well as their limitations.
Citation: Newman SH,
et al. (2012)
Eco-Virological Approach for Assessing the Role of Wild Birds in the Spread of
Avian Influenza H5N1 along the Central Asian Flyway. PLoS ONE 7(2): e30636.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0030636
Happy
reading.
Best wishes, Taej Mundkur
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