Serological Survey of Viral Pathogens in Bean and White-Fronted Geese From Germany

Abstract

Sera from wild geese were tested for antibodies to selected viral pathogens at a resting site for wild waterfowl in Germany. Serum samples from both bean geese (Anser fabalis) and white-fronted geese (Anser albifrons) collected in October 1991 were examined using serological methods licensed for routine diagnosis in domestic poultry. Of 130 sera tested, antibodies to several infectious agents were found including Newcastle disease virus (45%), goose parvovirus (48%), avian reovirus (29%), and avian adenovirus or egg drop syndrome 76 virus (6%). Antibodies against duck hepatitis virus were not detected. Differences in seroprevalences were not detected between the two geese species. While role and significance of wild geese in the epidemiology of avian diseases remains to be determined, it is possible that they could be of some importance as reservoirs and carriers of certain viral diseases of domestic poultry.

Serological and virological survey and resighting of marked wild geese in Germany

“…This is in accordance with other studies in which (Hlinak et al 2006;Globig 2007;Munster and Fouchier 2009). The isolation of ALV also matches with the seroprevalence (95% CI, 4.7-16.5%) observed confirming previous serological findings (6%) in arctic geese in Germany belonging to the same flyway population (Hlinak et al 1998). In contrast to other studies having revealed overall seroprevalences as high as 45% and 29% for APMV-1 and REOV, respectively (Hlinak et al 1998), in this study none of the geese sera had antibodies against those viruses.…”

“…The isolation of ALV also matches with the seroprevalence (95% CI, 4.7-16.5%) observed confirming previous serological findings (6%) in arctic geese in Germany belonging to the same flyway population (Hlinak et al 1998). In contrast to other studies having revealed overall seroprevalences as high as 45% and 29% for APMV-1 and REOV, respectively (Hlinak et al 1998), in this study none of the geese sera had antibodies against those viruses. In addition, no APMV-1 and REOV were isolated from arctic geese, but 13.7% of site-related Canada Geese from the same area were infected with APMV-1.…”

“…Serological testing of the sera for antibodies against avian APMV-1, avian REOV, avian adenoviruses (EDS virus 76) and 16 haemagglutinin AIV-subtypes (H1-H16) was carried out using standard serological methods like enzyme immunoassay, serum neutralization test, haemagglutinationinhibition (HI) test as essentially as described previously (Hlinak et al 1992(Hlinak et al , 1998Müller et al 2009). Titres of 1:2 (REOV) and 1:8 (APMV, AIV and AVI-EDS 76) were considered positive.…”

“…In recent years, various species of wild goose have been found infected with Newcastle disease virus (avian paramyxo virus 1 (APMV-1)) as well as other APMV serotypes (Spalatin and Hanson 1975;Takakuwa et al 1998;Shengqing et al 2002;Globig 2007), avian influenza A virus (AIV) (Boudreault et al 1980;Shengqing et al 2002;Fouchier et al 2003;Zhou et al 2006), avian pneumovirus (APV) (Shin et al 2000;Lwamba et al 2002), metapneumovirus (MPV) Turpin et al 2008), and Marek's disease virus (MDV) (Murata et al 2007). Despite those previous studies providing virological or serological evidence that Bean Geese, White-fronted Geese and Canada Geese staging or resting in Germany are infected with economically important avian viruses such as AIV, goose parvovirus (GVP), avian reo-like viruses (REOV), avian adeno-like virus (ALV), or egg drop syndrome 76 virus (EDV) (Hlinak et al 1998;Müller et al 1999;Bonner et al 2004), attempts to systematically isolate viral agents in both arctic and non-indigenous wild geese in Germany have been limited or failed.…”

Phylogenetic Diversity among Low-Virulence Newcastle Disease Viruses from Waterfowl and Shorebirds and Comparison of Genotype Distributions to Those of Poultry-Origin Isolates

“…Since the 2002 to 2003 outbreak of vNDV in California, Nevada, and Arizona, which was epidemiologically linked to infections in backyard poultry and game fowl, surveillance among this population has been significantly intensified. For WS populations, NDV monitoring has been sporadic and often occurs in conjunction with other monitoring programs, such as those for AIV (8,20,23,24). Detection of vNDV in wild bird populations often occurs after outbreaks in poultry (18,(25)(26)(27)50).…”