Role for migratory wild birds in the global spread of avian influenza H5N8

• Published in: Science
• Other Authors: European Commission H2020, European Commission FP7, U. S. Geological Survey Ecosystems Mission Area, National Institutes of Health, United Kingdom Research Council Environmental and Social Ecology of Human Infectious Diseases UrbanZoo, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Zoonoses in Livestock in Kenya ZooLinK, CGIAR Research Programme on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Lendulet, Wellcome Trust, Roslin Institute BBSRC
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2016
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf8852; https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.aaf8852

Migration of influenza in wild birds Virus surveillance in wild birds could offer an early warning system that, combined with adequate farm hygiene, would lead to effective influenza control in poultry units. The Global Consortium for H5N8 and Related Influenza Viruses found that the H5 segment common to the highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses readily reassorts with other influenza viruses (see the Perspective by Russell). H5 is thus a continual source of new pathogenic variants. These data also show that the H5N8 virus that recently caused serious outbreaks in European and North American poultry farms came from migrant ducks, swans, and geese that meet at their Arctic breeding grounds. Because the virus is so infectious, culling wild birds is not an effective control measure. Science , this issue p. 213 see also p. 174