Experimental Infection of Wading Birds With Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus

Abstract

To study the susceptibility of wading birds to eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus and to determine their potential as reservoir or amplifying hosts, fledgling glossy ibises (Plegadis falcinellus) and snowy egrets (Egretta thula) were captured in New Jersey (USA) and shipped to Colorado (USA) where they were experimentally inoculated with EEE virus. All 16 snowy egrets and 14 (93%) of 15 of the glossy ibises inoculated became viremic with moderate titers, and all survivors developed neutralizing antibody. Six ibises and two egrets died during the first week after inoculation, and EEE virus was isolated from the tissues of three birds. Our experimental results support field evidence about the relative involvement of glossy ibises and snowy egrets in the epizootiology of EEE virus in New Jersey.

Field Investigations of Winter Transmission of Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus in Florida

“…16 17 Experimentally infected wading and water birds have been shown to develop high enough viremias to infect mosquitoes. 18,19 In addition, Ciconiiformes, particularly the Night Herons, have been implicated in many other arbovirus transmission cycles including West Nile virus, 20 Saint Louis encephalitis virus, 16 Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, 21 Western equine encephalitis virus, 15 Japanese encephalitis virus, 22 and Murray Valley encephalitis virus. 23 Florida is unique among states in the United States in that EEEV transmission occurs year-round.…”

Eastern equine encephalitis virus in birds: relative competence of European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris).

“…Indeed, the virus replicates in virtually all wild birds that have been infected experimentally. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Diverse species of birds appear to contribute to the natural transmission cycle of EEE virus.…”

Buggy Creek Virus (Togaviridae:Alphavirus) Upregulates Expression of Pattern Recognition Receptors and Interferons in House Sparrows (Passer domesticus)

“…Previous studies of avian arbovirus infections have been mostly limited to virological and serological studies (McLean et al 1995, Reisen et al 2003, Reisen et al 2006, Unnasch et al 2006, Huyvaert et al 2008) and descriptions of pathological damage of field-caught birds (O'Brien et al 2010). This study is the first to report an avian immune gene expression profile following an alphavirus infection.…”