Coronaviruses in avian species – review with focus on epidemiology and diagnosis in wild birds

Abstract

Coronaviruses (CoVs) are a large group of enveloped viruses with a single-strand RNA genome, which continuously circulate in mammals and birds and pose a threat to livestock, companion animals, and humans. CoVs harboured by avian species are classified to the genera gamma- and deltacoronaviruses. Within the gamma-CoVs the main representative is avian coronavirus, a taxonomic name which includes the highly contagious infectious bronchitis viruses (IBVs) in chickens and similar viruses infecting other domestic birds such as turkeys, guinea fowls, or quails. Additionally, IBVs have been detected in healthy wild birds, demonstrating that they may act as the vector between domestic and free-living birds. Moreover, CoVs other than IBVs, are identified in wild birds, which suggests that wild birds play a key role in the epidemiology of other gammaCoVs and deltaCoVs. Development of molecular techniques has significantly improved knowledge of the prevalence of CoVs in avian species. The methods adopted in monitoring studies of CoVs in different avian species are mainly based on detection of conservative regions within the viral replicase, nucleocapsid genes, and 3’UTR or 5’UTR. The purpose of this review is to summarise recent discoveries in the areas of epidemiology and diagnosis of CoVs in avian species and to understand the role of wild birds in the virus distribution.

Phylodynamic analysis and evaluation of the balance between anthropic and environmental factors affecting IBV spreading among Italian poultry farms

“…Other environmental factors do not seem to play a relevant role in affecting viral dispersal. While climatic conditions like temperature, humidity and wind could actually affect viral viability and spreading, their effect could be circumvented by a transmission mediated by "fast-moving" vectors like trucks, personnel and, potentially, wild species 35,36 . More surprising could be the non-significant role of road density.…”

Insights into the Recent 2019 Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in Light of Past Human Coronavirus Outbreaks

“…The spherical morphology of the viral particle together with the spike projections led to the name coronavirus from the Latin word corona meaning crown, due to the appearance of the virus as a royal crown under the electron microscope [14,15]. CoVs are enveloped viruses (envelope is a lipid bilayer derived from the host cell membrane) with the viral structure formed primarily of structural proteins such as spike (S), membrane (M), envelope (E), and nucleocapsid (N) proteins, and hemagglutinin- The first discovered CoVs were IBV that causes respiratory disease in chickens and the human CoVs, human CoV-229E (HCoV-229E) and human CoV-OC43 (HCoV-OC43), which cause the common cold in humans [8,9]. Since the emergence of HCoV-229E and HCoV-OC43, several other HCoVs were discovered, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-CoV (SARS-CoV) in 2002, HCoV-NL63 in 2004, HCoV-HKU1 in 2005, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-CoV (MERS-CoV) in 2012 [10].…”

“…Alpha and betacoronaviruses circulate in mammals, including bats ( Figure 1) [2]. Gammacoronaviruses mostly infect avian species The first discovered CoVs were IBV that causes respiratory disease in chickens and the human CoVs, human CoV-229E (HCoV-229E) and human CoV-OC43 (HCoV-OC43), which cause the common cold in humans [8,9]. Since the emergence of HCoV-229E and HCoV-OC43, several other HCoVs were discovered, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-CoV (SARS-CoV) in 2002, HCoV-NL63 in 2004, HCoV-HKU1 in 2005, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-CoV (MERS-CoV) in 2012 [10].…”

Spotlight on avian coronaviruses

“…It remains to be determined whether or not any of them are capable of causing disease. An exception to the concept that Gammacoronaviruses are only found in avian species is the report by Mihindukulasuriya et al (2008), reviewed by Milek and Blicharz-Domanska (2018), of the detection by molecular methods of a Gammacoronavirus in a white beluga whale, although no virus could be grown.…”