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. 2020 Mar;30(2):e02040.
doi: 10.1002/eap.2040. Epub 2019 Dec 27.

Avian influenza virus prevalence in marine birds is dependent on ocean temperatures

Jeffrey S Hall  1 , Robert J Dusek  1 , Sean W Nashold  1 , Joshua L TeSlaa  1 , R Bradford Allen  2 , Daniel A Grear  1
Affiliations

Avian influenza virus prevalence in marine birds is dependent on ocean temperatures

Jeffrey S Hall et al. Ecol Appl. 2020 Mar.

Abstract

Waterfowl and shorebirds are the primary hosts of influenza A virus (IAV), however, in most surveillance efforts, large populations of birds are not routinely examined; specifically marine ducks and other birds that reside predominately on or near the ocean. We conducted a long-term study sampling sea ducks and gulls in coastal Maine for IAV and found a virus prevalence (1.7%) much lower than is typically found in freshwater duck populations. We found wide year-to-year variation in virus detection in sea ducks and that the ocean water temperature was an important factor affecting IAV prevalence. In particular, the ocean temperature that occurred 11 d prior to collecting virus positive samples was important while water temperature measured concurrently with host sampling had no explanatory power for viral detection. We also experimentally showed that IAV is relatively unstable in sea water at temperatures typically found during our sampling. This represents the first report of virus prevalence and actual environmental data that help explain the variation in marine IAV transmission dynamics.

Keywords: avian influenza; gulls; marine birds; ocean temperature; sea ducks; stability; transmission; virus prevalence.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Daily sea temperature mean (solid lines), minimum, and maximum (dashed lines) at the Bar Harbor, Maine, USA (Station ID 8413320) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sensor buoy. Bars represent the number of wild bird samples collected (gray bars) and the number testing positive for influenza A virus (IAV; colored bars) per day, in (a–c) 2011–2013 and (d–f) 2014–2017.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Estimated influenza A virus (IAV) detection probability as a function of sampling year and minimum sea temperature measured 11 d prior to sampling (best fitting model predicted response, mean ± SE; lines and shaded areas) with observed proportion of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection aggregated into 2° bins (points).
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