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Urban waterfowl across New Zealand share many of the same virus species

Male Mallard at Lake Rotoroa, South Island, New Zealand
Research: Ecology, Disease, parasites & microbiology

Waterfowl in urban areas across Aotearoa New Zealand carried a diverse range of viruses. Yet the virus communities found at 13 locations spanning more than 1,500 kilometres showed little geographic separation. Some viruses carried by waterfowl can affect wildlife, livestock and human health.

Researchers identified 96 avian viruses representing 50 species across nine viral families. Thirty-three had not previously been described. Picornaviruses, a diverse family of small RNA viruses, were the most widespread group. Several detected viruses were closely related to viruses previously identified in Australian waterfowl, suggesting that some lineages may occur across the wider Australasian region.

Virus diversity and species composition differed little among the sampling locations, and many virus species were found at multiple sites. The study documents this similarity but does not establish how viruses moved between locations.

Researchers also recovered the complete genome of a low-pathogenic avian influenza A(H3N8) virus from mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) in the study’s southernmost region. Low-pathogenic avian influenza viruses typically cause little or no illness in poultry. Detecting the virus’s genome does not by itself show whether the sampled birds were ill.

Sources and image credit

  1. Urban waterfowl harbour geographically connected viral communities across Aotearoa New ZealandPrimærkilde: preprintens sammendrag rapporterer prøver fra 13 lokaliteter, virusmangfoldet, geografiske mønstre, nettverksanalyse og et A(H3N8)-genom fra stokkand. Preprinten er ikke fagfellevurdert.

Image: Wild Mallard in eclipse plumage at Lake Rotoroa, South Island, New Zealand, 2 January 2014. Photo: karlnorling / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Representative image, not one of the study birds. · CC BY 2.0 · Source

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