West Nile virus surveillance using sentinel birds

Abstract

Captive and free-ranging birds have been used for decades as living sentinels in arbovirus surveillance programs. This review summarizes information relevant to selecting sentinel bird species for use in surveillance of West Nile (WN) virus. Although experience using avian sentinels for WN virus surveillance is limited, sentinels should be useful for both detecting and monitoring WN virus transmission; however, sentinel bird surveillance systems have yet to be adequately tested for use with the North American strain of WN virus. Captive chickens are typically used for arbovirus surveillance, but other captive species may be used as well. Serosurvey and experimental infection data suggest that both chickens and pigeons show promise as useful captive sentinels; both species were naturally exposed during the epizootics in New York City, 1999-2000, and both species develop antibodies after infection without becoming highly infectious to Culex pipiens vectors. Wild bird species that should be targeted for use as free-ranging sentinels include house sparrows and pigeons. The ideal wild bird should be determined locally on the basis of seroprevalence studies. Interpreting serological data generated from studies using free-ranging sentinel birds is complex, however. Sentinel bird monitoring sites should be selected in enzootic transmission foci. Several years of observation may be required for selection of effective sentinel monitoring sites.