U.S. Department of Agriculture: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications
ORCID IDs
Ringenberg https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9492-3874
Weir https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2450-3273
Humberg https://orcid.org/0009-0003-3840-4393
Voglewede https://orcid.org/0009-0003-4570-6285
Oswald https://orcid.org/0009-0009-1671-7624
Root https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4177-1824
Dilione https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6041-7877
Casey https://orcid.org/0009-0002-3159-9477
Milleson https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6182-5223
Linder https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3440-0574
Lenoch https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3995-8895
Document Type
Article
Date of this Version
2024
Citation
Transboundary and Emerging Diseases (2024) 2024: 4009552
doi: 10.1155/2024/4009552
Academic editor: Nan-hua Chen
Data for highly pathogenic avian influenza detections in wild birds confirmed at the National Veterinary Services Laboratories from 2022 to 2024 are available at: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestockpoultry-disease/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-detections/wild-birds
Abstract
The global outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 Eurasian lineage goose/Guangdong clade 2.3.4.4b virus that was detected in North America in 2021 is the largest in history and has significantly impacted wild bird populations and domestic poultry across the continent. Synanthropic birds may play an important role in transmitting the virus laterally to other wild bird species and domestic poultry. Understanding the dynamics of HPAI in atypical, or nonreservoir, wild bird hosts may help inform management decisions and potential risk factors to both wild and domestic bird populations. Following the confirmation of infections of HPAI H5N1 in domestic poultry at two commercial premises in Indiana, United States, we sampled and tested 266 Columbiformes and Passeriformes birds and found no detections of the virus at either location. We further queried laboratories within the National Animal Health Laboratory Network for avian influenza (AI) virus diagnostic test results for wild birds submitted from morbidity/mortality events, for a total of 9,368 birds tested across eight orders and 1,543 avian influenza virus detections between February 2022 and March 2023. Query results were assessed for viral prevalence by taxonomic group and suggested that the virus most often was observed in predatory and scavenging birds. The highest prevalence was observed in raptors (0.2514), with prevalence rates in exclusively scavenging Cathartidae reaching up to 0.5333. There is evidence that the consumption of infected tissues is a key pathway for transmission of AI viruses in predatory and scavenging birds. Although detections were found in nonpredatory synanthropic birds, including orders Columbiformes and Passeriformes, the risk of transmission from and between these groups appears comparatively low. Understanding the dynamics of AI viruses in synanthropic bird orders during the global HPAI H5N1 outbreak in wild bird populations can provide pertinent information on viral transmission, disease ecology, and risk to humans and agriculture.
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Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons, Other Environmental Sciences Commons, Other Veterinary Medicine Commons, Population Biology Commons, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons, Veterinary Infectious Diseases Commons, Veterinary Microbiology and Immunobiology Commons, Veterinary Preventive Medicine, Epidemiology, and Public Health Commons, Zoology Commons
Comments
United States government work