No evidence that migratory geese disperse avian influenza viruses from breeding to wintering ground

Abstract

Low pathogenic avian influenza virus can mutate to a highly pathogenic strain that causes severe clinical signs in birds and humans. Migratory waterfowl, especially ducks, are considered the main hosts of low pathogenic avian influenza virus, but the role of geese in dispersing the virus over long-distances is still unclear. We collected throat and cloaca samples from three goose species, Bean goose (Anser fabalis), Barnacle goose (Branta leucopsis) and Greater white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons), from their breeding grounds, spring stopover sites, and wintering grounds. We tested if the geese were infected with low pathogenic avian influenza virus outside of their wintering grounds, and analysed the spatial and temporal patterns of infection prevalence on their wintering grounds. Our results show that geese were not infected before their arrival on wintering grounds. Barnacle geese and Greater white-fronted geese had low prevalence of infection just after their arrival on wintering grounds in the Netherlands, but the prevalence increased in successive months, and peaked after December. This suggests that migratory geese are exposed to the virus after their arrival on wintering grounds, indicating that migratory geese might not disperse low pathogenic avian influenza virus during autumn migration.

Contrasting effects of host species and phylogenetic diversity on the occurrence of HPAI H5N1 in European wild birds

“…Recent studies (Si et al, 2009;Tian, Zhou, Dong, Van Boeckel, Cui, et al, 2015) have suggested that long-distance migration of wild birds may be responsible for the huge geographic jumps of HPAI H5N1 between continents (Yin et al, 2017). Wild birds, however, may influence the spread of HPAI H5N1 in complex ways.…”

The roles of migratory and resident birds in local avian influenza infection dynamics

“…Combining the findings from the model and the empirical study, we can conclude that migrants may not exclusively affect the AIV infection dynamics of resident populations through their often suggested role in the introduction of new virus strains (e.g. Lycett et al, 2016;Verhagen et al, 2015) and the general increase in hostdensities (Gaidet et al, 2012;Hill et al 2016), but may have an additional role in the amplification of the virus (Yin et al, 2017). Since migration is a large-scale multi-species phenomenon, this might more generally be the case and it questions the hypothesis that migrants only have a role in dispersing and introducing AIVs and thereby affecting resident populations.…”

“…Lycett et al., ; Verhagen et al., ) and the general increase in host‐densities (Gaidet et al., ; Hill et al. ), but may have an additional role in the amplification of the virus (Yin et al., ). Since migration is a large‐scale multi‐species phenomenon, this might more generally be the case and it questions the hypothesis that migrants only have a role in dispersing and introducing AIVs and thereby affecting resident populations.…”

Consequences of seasonal migration : How goose relocation strategies influence infection prevalence and pathogen dispersal

“…For example, the global dispersal of H5 subtype is spatially and temporally correlated with bird migration (Verhagen et al 2015;Si et al 2009;Xu et al 2016). Furthermore, previous studies have also shown that the arrival of migratory waterfowl species such as mallard Anas platyrhynchos, greater white-fronted goose Anser albifrons, and whooper swan Cygnus cygnus on their overwintering site can amplify AIVs infection prevalence Yin et al 2017;Newman et al 2009).…”

“…Since the risks for HPAIVs outbreaking are high when the HPAIVs are dispersed into a new location, a better understanding of their dispersal mechanisms is urgently needed for planning better field surveillance programs Verhagen et al 2015;Xu et al 2013) and predicting HPAIV outbreaks Prosser et al 2013). Meanwhile, since LPAIVs are predecessors for HPAIVs, understanding of their dispersal mechanisms is urgently necessary as well (Cappelle et al 2014;Yin et al 2017).…”