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Title: Is the occurrence of avian influenza virus in charadriiformes species and location dependent?

Author
item HANSON, B - UNIV GA, VET MED, SCWDS
item LUTTRELL, M - UNIV GA, VET MED, SCWDS
item GOEKJIAN, V - UNIV GA, VET MED, SCWDS
item NILES, L - NJ DIV FISH & WILDLIFE
item Swayne, David
item SENNE, D - USDA-APHIS, NATL VET SVC
item STALLKNECHT, D - UNIV GA, VET MED, SCWDS

Submitted to: Journal of Wildlife Diseases
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/2/2007
Publication Date: 1/1/2008
Citation: Hanson, B.A., Luttrell, M.P., Goekjian, V.H., Niles, L., Swayne, D.E., Senne, D.A., Stallknecht, D.E. 2008. Is the occurrence of avian influenza virus in charadriiformes species and location dependent?. Journal of Wildlife Diseases. 44(2):351-361.

Interpretive Summary: 9400 shorebirds were examined at multiple locations in the eastern half of the continental U.S., as well as Argentina, Chile, and Bermuda during 1999–2005 for avian influenza virus (AIV). 300 AIV were isolated of which 87% were from a single species, the ruddy turnstone, but these birds made up only 25% of the total birds tested. Most of the viruses were from the Delaware Bay region with the predominant hemagglutinin subtype being H10, but the subtypes did vary with each year. These results suggest that AIV infection among shorebirds may be localized, species specific, and highly variable in relation to AIV hemagglutinin subtype.

Technical Abstract: Birds in the order Charadriiformes were sampled at multiple sites in the eastern half of the continental U.S., as well as Argentina, Chile, and Bermuda during 1999–2005 and tested for avian influenza virus (AIV). Of more than 9,400 birds sampled, AIV virus was isolated from 300 birds. Although ruddy turnstones (Arenaria interpres) comprised just 25% of birds sampled, they accounted for 87% of isolates. Only eight AIV isolations were made from birds at four locations outside of the Delaware Bay region; six of these were from gulls (Laridae). At Delaware Bay, AIV isolations were predominated by hemagglutinin (H) subtype H10, but subtype diversity varied each year. These results suggest that AIV infection among shorebirds (Scolopacidae) may be localized, species specific, and highly variable in relation to AIV subtype diversity.