Peste Des Petits Ruminants Screening and Diagnostic Tests in African Wildlife in the Context of Rinderpest Eradication (1994-2007).

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) virus causes a major disease in domestic and wild small ruminants. Understanding the role of wildlife in PPR virus ecology is important for PPR control and its eradication targeted worldwide in 2030. Developing diagnostic tools that provide reliable data for PPR detection in wildlife will help monitor wild populations for PPR and support the eradication program.

Disentangling the role of Africa in the global spread of H5 highly pathogenic avian influenza.

The role of Africa in the dynamics of the global spread of a zoonotic and economically-important virus, such as the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5Nx of the Gs/GD lineage, remains unexplored. Here we characterise the spatiotemporal patterns of virus diffusion during three HPAI H5Nx intercontinental epidemic waves and demonstrate that Africa mainly acted as an ecological sink of the HPAI H5Nx viruses. A joint analysis of host dynamics and continuous spatial diffusion indicates that poultry trade as well as wild bird migrations have contributed to the virus spreading into Africa, with West Africa acting as a crucial hotspot for virus introduction and dissemination into the continent.

Avian Influenza Virus Surveillance in High Arctic Breeding Geese, Greenland.

The connectedness in Arctic regions between migratory waterbird populations originating from different continents and the potential for virus exchange at their shared Arctic breeding ground point to the need to explore the largely unstudied circumpolar circulation of avian influenza viruses (AIV). We here report the investigation of AIV in wild birds and lakes in a high Arctic area of Northeast Greenland. No AIV could be detected in the fecal, feather, and water samples collected from large flocks of pink-footed geese Anser brachyrhynchus and barnacle geese Branta leucopsis in and around refuge lakes, where they congregate at high density during their flightless molting period in summer.

Comment on "Marine plastic debris emits a keystone infochemical for olfactory foraging seabirds" by Savoca .

In their recent paper, Savoca and collaborators (2016) showed that plastic debris in the ocean may acquire a dimethyl sulfide (DMS) signature from biofouling developing on their surface. According to them, DMS emission may represent an olfactory trap for foraging seabirds, which explains patterns of plastic ingestion among procellariiform seabirds. This hypothesis is appealing, but some of the data that Savoca used to support their claim are questionable, resulting in a misclassification of species, as well as other decisions regarding the variables to include in their models.

Ecology of Avian Influenza Virus in Wild Birds in Tropical Africa.

Several ecologic factors have been proposed to describe the mechanisms whereby host ecology and the environment influence the transmission of avian influenza viruses (AIVs) in wild birds, including bird's foraging behavior, migratory pattern, seasonal congregation, the rate of recruitment of juvenile birds, and abiotic factors. However, these ecologic factors are derived from studies that have been conducted in temperate or boreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere. These factors cannot be directly translated to tropical regions, where differences in host ecology and seasonality may produce different ecologic interactions between wild birds and AIV.

Bridge hosts, a missing link for disease ecology in multi-host systems.

In ecology, the grouping of species into functional groups has played a valuable role in simplifying ecological complexity. In epidemiology, further clarifications of epidemiological functions are needed: while host roles may be defined, they are often used loosely, partly because of a lack of clarity on the relationships between a host's function and its epidemiological role. Here we focus on the definition of bridge hosts and their epidemiological consequences.

Does host receptivity or host exposure drives dynamics of infectious diseases? The case of West Nile Virus in wild birds.

Infection is a complex biological process involving reciprocally both the intensity of host exposure to a pathogen as well as the host intrinsic "receptivity", or permissiveness to infection. Disentangling their respective contributions is currently seen as a fundamental gap in our knowledge. Here, we take the advantage of a rare semi-natural experiment context provided by the emergence of the West Nile Virus (WNV) in North America.

Global avian influenza surveillance in wild birds: a strategy to capture viral diversity.

Wild birds play a major role in the evolution, maintenance, and spread of avian influenza viruses. However, surveillance for these viruses in wild birds is sporadic, geographically biased, and often limited to the last outbreak virus. To identify opportunities to optimize wild bird surveillance for understanding viral diversity, we reviewed responses to a World Organisation for Animal Health-administered survey, government reports to this organization, articles on Web of Knowledge, and the Influenza Research Database.

Avian influenza virus (H11N9) in migratory shorebirds wintering in the Amazon Region, Brazil.

Aquatic birds are the natural reservoir for avian influenza viruses (AIV). Habitats in Brazil provide stopover and wintering sites for water birds that migrate between North and South America. The current study was conducted to elucidate the possibility of the transport of influenza A viruses by birds that migrate annually between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

Risks of avian influenza transmission in areas of intensive free-ranging duck production with wild waterfowl.

For decades, southern China has been considered to be an important source for emerging influenza viruses since key hosts live together in high densities in areas with intensive agriculture. However, the underlying conditions of emergence and spread of avian influenza viruses (AIV) have not been studied in detail, particularly the complex spatiotemporal interplay of viral transmission between wild and domestic ducks, two major actors of AIV epidemiology. In this synthesis, we examine the risks of avian influenza spread in Poyang Lake, an area of intensive free-ranging duck production and large numbers of wild waterfowl.

New avian paramyxoviruses type I strains identified in Africa provide new outcomes for phylogeny reconstruction and genotype classification.

Newcastle disease (ND) is one of the most lethal diseases of poultry worldwide. It is caused by an avian paramyxovirus 1 that has high genomic diversity. In the framework of an international surveillance program launched in 2007, several thousand samples from domestic and wild birds in Africa were collected and analyzed.

Benefits of migration in a partially-migratory tropical ungulate.

Background: Partial migration, where one portion of a population conducts seasonal migrations while the other remains on a single range, is common in wild ungulate populations. However the relative costs and benefits associated with the distinct strategies adopted by coexisting migrant and resident individuals have rarely been investigated. Here we compare the body condition of migrants and residents in a partially migratory population of impalas (Aepyceros melampus) in Zimbabwe.

Investigating avian influenza infection hotspots in old-world shorebirds.

Heterogeneity in the transmission rates of pathogens across hosts or environments may produce disease hotspots, which are defined as specific sites, times or species associations in which the infection rate is consistently elevated. Hotspots for avian influenza virus (AIV) in wild birds are largely unstudied and poorly understood. A striking feature is the existence of a unique but consistent AIV hotspot in shorebirds (Charadriiformes) associated with a single species at a specific location and time (ruddy turnstone Arenaria interpres at Delaware Bay, USA, in May).

Saving resources: avian influenza surveillance using pooled swab samples and reduced reaction volumes in real-time RT-PCR.

The occurrence of highly pathogenic (HP) avian influenza (AI) H5N1 in Asia and its spread to Africa and Europe prompted costly monitoring programs of wild birds and domestic poultry. AI virus excretion is tested by examining avian swab samples by real-time reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR). In this study, pools of swab samples and a reagents volume reduction per RT-qPCR were evaluated as measures of economization.

Circulation of avian influenza viruses in wild birds in Inner Niger Delta, Mali.

Background: Avian influenza viruses (AIV) have been detected in wild birds in West Africa during the northern winter, but no information is available on a potential year-round circulation of AIV in West Africa. Such year-round circulation would allow reassortment opportunities between strains circulating in Afro-tropical birds and strains imported by migratory birds wintering in West Africa.

Objective And Method: A 2-year longitudinal survey was conducted in the largest continental wetland of West Africa, the Inner Niger Delta in Mali, to determine the year-round circulation of AIV in wild birds.

Characterizing the interface between wild ducks and poultry to evaluate the potential of transmission of avian pathogens.

Background: Characterizing the interface between wild and domestic animal populations is increasingly recognized as essential in the context of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) that are transmitted by wildlife. More specifically, the spatial and temporal distribution of contact rates between wild and domestic hosts is a key parameter for modeling EIDs transmission dynamics. We integrated satellite telemetry, remote sensing and ground-based surveys to evaluate the spatio-temporal dynamics of indirect contacts between wild and domestic birds to estimate the risk that avian pathogens such as avian influenza and Newcastle viruses will be transmitted between wildlife to poultry.

Persistence of low pathogenic avian influenza virus in waterfowl in a Southern African ecosystem.

Waterfowl were counted and sampled in a Zimbabwean wetland over 24 months. LPAI strains were detected during 20 consecutive months, providing evidence of regional yearly persistence of LPAI. We discuss the role of Afro-tropical ducks in viral maintenance and transmission, and attempt to explain the observed patterns.

Ecological modeling of the spatial distribution of wild waterbirds to identify the main areas where avian influenza viruses are circulating in the Inner Niger Delta, Mali.

Predicting areas of disease emergence when no epidemiological data is available is essential for the implementation of efficient surveillance programs. The Inner Niger Delta (IND) in Mali is a major African wetland where >1 million Palearctic and African waterbirds congregate. Waterbirds are the main reservoir of Avian Influenza Viruses (AIV).

Avian influenza virus monitoring in wintering waterbirds in Iran, 2003-2007.

Background: Virological, molecular and serological studies were carried out to determine the status of infections with avian influenza viruses (AIV) in different species of wild waterbirds in Iran during 2003-2007. Samples were collected from 1146 birds representing 45 different species with the majority of samples originating from ducks, coots and shorebirds. Samples originated from 6 different provinces representative for the 15 most important wintering sites of migratory waterbirds in Iran.

Low West Nile virus circulation in wild birds in an area of recurring outbreaks in Southern France.

West Nile virus (WNV) has a history of irregular but recurrent epizootics in countries of Mediterranean and of Central and Eastern Europe. We have investigated the temporal enzootic activity of WNV in free-ranging birds over a 3-year period in an area with sporadic occurrences of WNV outbreaks in Southern France. We conducted an intensive serologic survey on several wild bird populations (>4000 serum samples collected from 3300 birds) selected as potential indicators of the WNV circulation.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (H5N1) outbreak in captive wild birds and cats, Cambodia.

From December 2003 through January 2004, the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre, Cambodia, was affected by the highly pathogenic influenza virus (H5N1). Birds from 26 species died. Influenza virus subtype H5N1 was detected in 6 of 7 species tested.

Predicting West Nile virus seroprevalence in wild birds in Senegal.

West Nile fever epidemiology is complex, and the role of birds in the maintenance, amplification, and dissemination of the West Nile virus (WNV) remains partially unknown. In 2003, a serological study was performed in Senegal, where West Nile infection is considered endemic. The goal was to identify potential reservoirs of WNV among bird species present in the Ferlo area (northern Senegal) and the Senegal River Valley, and to screen the ecological factors possibly related to West Nile infection.

Evolutionary biology, community ecology and avian influenza research.

The epidemiology of H5N1 HPAI is still unclear despite the efforts of the research community. Studies bringing new insights add more variability in the host-pathogen system and uncertainty in the prediction of local risks. Global analyses of the pathways of wild birds in parallel with virus outbreaks have brought limited conclusions once the raw information was extracted from relevant maps.

Evidence of infection by H5N2 highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses in healthy wild waterfowl.

The potential existence of a wild bird reservoir for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has been recently questioned by the spread and the persisting circulation of H5N1 HPAI viruses, responsible for concurrent outbreaks in migratory and domestic birds over Asia, Europe, and Africa. During a large-scale surveillance programme over Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, we detected avian influenza viruses of H5N2 subtype with a highly pathogenic (HP) viral genotype in healthy birds of two wild waterfowl species sampled in Nigeria. We monitored the survival and regional movements of one of the infected birds through satellite telemetry, providing a rare evidence of a non-lethal natural infection by an HP viral genotype in wild birds.