Dead Crow Density and West Nile Virus Monitoring, New York

Eidson, Millicent; Schmit, Kate; Hagiwara, Yoichiro; Anand, Madhu; Backenson, P. Bryon; Gotham, Ivan J.; Kramer, Laura D.

doi:10.3201/eid1109.040712

Cited by 49 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…A study modeling dead crow densities at the county level in New York state determined that human cases were more likely to occur in counties with reported dead crow densities Ն0.1 per square mile (Eidson et al 2001a, Eidson et al 2005. These analyses were applied retrospectively and at the county-level scale (Eidson et al 2001a, Eidson et al 2005, Reisen et al 2006a; however, Þner geographic resolution would better suit community-level intervention methodologies (Julian et al 2002, Johnson et al 2006). These studies implied that crow death was associated with mosquito infection; however, few research projects have attempted to verify this relationship.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

West Nile Virus-Infected Dead Corvids Increase the Risk of Infection inCulexMosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in Domestic Landscapes

Nielsen¹,

Reisen

2007

J Med Entomol

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A comparative study of West Nile virus (family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus, WNV) infection rates in Culex mosquitoes collected at 13 sites, seven reporting WNV-positive dead corvids (case sites) and six without reported dead birds (control sites) was conducted in Davis, CA, from 14 to 21 July at the beginning of the 2006 WNV outbreak. In total, 3,051 Culex mosquitoes were collected using gravid traps and CO 2 -baited traps; WNV-infected mosquitoes were only collected with CO 2 -baited traps. WNV-infected Culex pipiens L. were collected at one of the seven case sites. Six of seven case sites yielded WNV-infected Culex tarsalis Coquillett, whereas only one of six control sites had WNV-infected Cx. tarsalis. Overall, the odds of Þnding WNV-positive mosquitoes were 19.75 times greater at sites reporting a WNV-infected dead corvid than sites without a WNV-infected dead corvid. Maximum likelihood estimates of the overall infection rates at the case sites were 3.48/1,000 for Cx. tarsalis and 8.69/1,000 for Cx. pipiens compared with 1.02/1,000 in Cx. tarsalis collected at the control sites. Results indicate that Cx. tarsalis was important in early season enzootic transmission within Davis and that sites reporting WNV-infected dead corvids are areas to focus control and surveillance efforts.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

West Nile Virus-Infected Dead Corvids Increase the Risk of Infection inCulexMosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in Domestic Landscapes

Nielsen¹,

Reisen

2007

J Med Entomol

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“…Studies in New York State revealed a positive association between county-level dead crow density (number/square mile) and the number of human cases for the years (Eidson et al 2001bJulian et al 2002;Eidson et al 2005). These studies indicate that dead crow density may provide a viable proxy for WNV activity, although the strength of associations vary by year, and are likely influenced by the prevalence of infection and the availability of remaining live crows to become infected .…”

Section: West Nile Virus: a Case Study In Surveillancementioning

confidence: 88%

Prospective spatial prediction of infectious disease: experience of New York State (USA) with West Nile Virus and proposed directions for improved surveillance

Johnson

2008

Environ Ecol Stat

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Infectious disease surveillance has become an international top priority due to the perceived risk of bioterrorism. This is driving the improvement of real-time geo-spatial surveillance systems for monitoring disease indicators, which is expected to have many benefits beyond detecting a bioterror event. West Nile Virus surveillance in New York State (USA) is highlighted as a working system that uses dead American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) to prospectively indicate viral activity prior to human onset. A cross-disciplinary review is then presented to argue that this system, and infectious disease surveillance in general, can be improved by complementing spatial cluster detection of an outcome variable with predictive "risk mapping" that incorporates spatiotemporal data on the environment, climate and human population through the flexible class of generalized linear mixed models.

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“…The high susceptibility of some North American bird species for fatal WNV infection and the fact that bird mortality typically precedes human or equine WNV infection has made dead bird surveillance a focus of particular interest. Several papers evaluating the efficacy of dead bird surveillance (Eidson 2001, Eidson et al 2005, Guptill et al 2003, Mostashari et al 2003, Blackmore et al 2003, Watson et al 2004) suggested that dead bird counts are in fact predictive of subsequent local human WNV illness. However, a recent report by Brownstein et al (2004) concluded that mosquito surveillance is superior to dead bird surveillance as a basis for human WNV risk prediction and some have called for abandoning dead bird surveillance as a primary tool of WNV surveillance (NCDENR 2004).…”

Section: Introduction S Ince the Introduction Of West Nile Virusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prediction of Equine Risk of West Nile Virus Infection Based on Dead Bird Surveillance

Roberts

Foppa

2006

Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases

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Since the introduction of West Nile Virus (WNV) to the United States in 1999, the efficacy of dead bird surveillance for the prediction of human and veterinary WNV infection has been an issue of debate. We utilized South Carolina's Department of Health and Environmental Control surveillance data from 2003 to determine whether dead bird surveillance accurately predicts equine WNV infection on a county level. We adjusted for human population density as a potential confounder of an association between WNV-positive dead bird counts and mammalian WNV risk. We found a strong positive association between avian risk of WNV death and subsequent equine mortality due to WNV in South Carolina even after adjusting for human population density. Sensitivity of dead bird surveillance as a predictor of future equine WNV risk was far superior to mosquito surveillance (95% vs. 9.5%, respectively). A Poisson regression model of the equine WNV rate as a function of WNV-positive dead bird rate, adjusting for population density and taking into account effect modification by population density shows a good fit with the data. Unlike most previous studies, we control for potential confounding of the dead, WNVpositive bird-equine WNV infection association by human population density. Yet, the positive association between dead bird surveillance and equine WNV risk remains strong and statistically significant, indicating that dead bird surveillance remains a valuable tool of WNV surveillance.

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Dead Crow Density and West Nile Virus Monitoring, New York

Abstract: Persons in counties with high dead crow densities had elevated risk for disease.

Cited by 49 publications

References 29 publications

West Nile Virus-Infected Dead Corvids Increase the Risk of Infection inCulexMosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in Domestic Landscapes

West Nile Virus-Infected Dead Corvids Increase the Risk of Infection inCulexMosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in Domestic Landscapes

Prospective spatial prediction of infectious disease: experience of New York State (USA) with West Nile Virus and proposed directions for improved surveillance

Prediction of Equine Risk of West Nile Virus Infection Based on Dead Bird Surveillance

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