Abstract Title
Ongoing incursions of HPAI into the North Atlantic are associated with seabirds and seaducks and demonstrate a strong winter pulse.
Abstract
Since late 2021, there have been at least 6 unique incursions of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5 2.3.4.4.b into North America, several arriving along the trans-Atlantic route. This has corresponded to frequent detections and localized die-offs in seaducks, seabirds, and raptors along the North Atlantic coast. Through collaborative surveillance efforts in the northeastern United States, we have tested over 10,000 wild birds ranging from healthy, to symptomatic, to deceased. This has enabled a broad surveillance of multiple species throughout the calendar year spanning the incursion. These efforts demonstrated a winter pulse of HPAI each year since the incursion, with the dominant HPAI genotypes detected in the region undergoing a yearly shift.
Seabirds, especially gulls, have been a consistent host for HPAI and have harbored numerous variants, including early detections of new subtypes and reassortments. As frequent hosts for both low pathogenicity avian influenza (LPAI) and HPAI, gulls demonstrate different seasonal patterns of HPAI and LPAI, wherein the highest incidence of HPAI is in the winter, and LPAI has a wave in the early spring and a peak in the Fall.
These data highlight how HPAI continues to a be a dynamic emerging disease with broad impacts. The ecology of HPAI demonstrates key deviations from prior observations of LPAI in wild birds, notably the frequency of new variants in seabirds, the prevalence in seaducks, seabirds, and raptors, and the shift in seasonality. Continued efforts to understand the drivers and consequences of these ecological changes remain critical.
Seabirds, especially gulls, have been a consistent host for HPAI and have harbored numerous variants, including early detections of new subtypes and reassortments. As frequent hosts for both low pathogenicity avian influenza (LPAI) and HPAI, gulls demonstrate different seasonal patterns of HPAI and LPAI, wherein the highest incidence of HPAI is in the winter, and LPAI has a wave in the early spring and a peak in the Fall.
These data highlight how HPAI continues to a be a dynamic emerging disease with broad impacts. The ecology of HPAI demonstrates key deviations from prior observations of LPAI in wild birds, notably the frequency of new variants in seabirds, the prevalence in seaducks, seabirds, and raptors, and the shift in seasonality. Continued efforts to understand the drivers and consequences of these ecological changes remain critical.
Co-Author(s)
Wendy Puryear1, Alexa Simulynas1, Jonathon Stone1, Elena Cox1, Emilie Gurnon1, Idrissa Nonmon Sanogo1, Jennifer Taylor2, Blaine Hymel3, Shelley Spanswick4, Ashley Stokes5, Alvin Crespo-Bellido6, Martha Nelson6, Tegwin Taylor7, Danielle D’Auria7, Stephanie Ellis2, Priya Patel8, Maureen Murray9, Jonathan Runstadler1
1Cummings School of Vet Med at Tufts University, Grafton, MA; 2Wild Care, Eastham, MA; 3Wildlife Clinic of Rhode Island, Saunderstown ,RI; 4The Center for Wildlife, Cape Neddick, ME; 5Seacoast Science Center, Rye, NH; 6National lnstitutes of Health, Bethesda, MD; 7Maine Dept of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Augusta, ME; 8Cape Cod Wildlife, Barnstable, MA; 9Tufts Wildlife Clinic, Cummings School of Vet Med at Tufts University, Grafton, MA
Abstract Category
Notable outbreaks, field and molecular epidemiology, and surveillance in wild birds