Global dissemination of Influenza A virus is driven by wild bird migration through arctic and subarctic zones

• Main Author: Gass, Jonathon
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2022
• Subjects: influenza A virus; Iceland; wild birds; Phylodynamics; transmission; Subarctic; Arctic; Greenland; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.m37pvmd2m

Influenza A viruses (IAV) circulate endemically among many wild aquatic bird populations that seasonally migrate between wintering grounds in southern latitudes to breeding ranges along the perimeter of the circumpolar arctic. Arctic and subarctic zones are hypothesized to serve as ecologic drivers of the intercontinental movement and reassortment of IAVs due to high densities of disparate populations of long distance migratory and native bird species present during breeding season s. Iceland is a staging ground that connects the East Atlantic and North Atlantic American flyways, providing a unique study system for characterizing viral flow between eastern and western hemispheres. Using Bayesian phylodynamic analyses, we sought to evaluate the viral connectivity of Iceland to proximal regions and how inter-species transmission and reassortment dynamics in this region influence the geographic spread of low and highly pathogenic IAVs. Findings demonstrate that IAV movement in the arctic and subarctic follows seabird migration around the perimeter of the circumpolar north, favoring short-distance flights between proximal regions rather than long distance flights over the polar interior. Iceland connects virus movement between mainland Europe and North America, particularly due to the westward migration of wild birds from mainland Europe to Northeastern Canada and Greenland. Though virus diffusion rates were similar among avian taxonomic groups in Iceland, g ulls act as recipients and not sources of IAVs to other avian hosts prior to onward migration. These data identify patterns of virus movement in northern latitudes and inform future surveillance strategies related to seasonal and emergent IAVs with pandemic potential . Global_Dataset_394_20210809.csv Contains 394 PB2 sequences, GenBank accession numbers, and all metadata for the global analysis NorthAtlantic_Dataset_866_20210809.csv Contains 866 PB2 sequences, GenBank accession numbers, and all metadata for the North Atlantic analysis Funding provided by: ...