Fine-scale tracking of wild waterfowl and their impact on highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks in the Republic of Korea, 2014\u20132015

Seong-Keun Hong,Daesung Yu,Wooseg Jeong,Eunesub Lee,Hachung Yoon,Kyuyoung Lee,Ilseob Lee,Sung-Il Kang,Yongmyung Kang,Beatriz Martínez-López

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-75698-y

Seong-Keun Hong, Daesung Yu + Show 8 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-75698-y

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Abstract

Wild migratory waterfowl are considered one of the most important reservoirs and long-distance carriers of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). Our study aimed to explore the spatial and temporal characteristics of wild migratory waterfowl’s wintering habitat in the Republic of Korea (ROK) and to evaluate the impact of these habitats on the risk of HPAI outbreaks in commercial poultry farms. The habitat use of 344 wild migratory waterfowl over four migration cycles was estimated based on tracking records. The association of habitat use with HPAI H5N8 outbreaks in poultry farms was evaluated using a multilevel logistic regression model. We found that a poultry farm within a wild waterfowl habitat had a 3–8 times higher risk of HPAI outbreak than poultry farms located outside of the habitat. The range of wild waterfowl habitats increased during autumn migration, and was associated with the epidemic peak of HPAI outbreaks on domestic poultry farms in the ROK. Our findings provide a better understanding of the dynamics of HPAI infection in the wildlife–domestic poultry interface and may help to establish early detection, and cost-effective preventive measures.

Highlights

Wild migratory waterfowl are considered one of the most important reservoirs and long-distance carriers of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI)
Our study investigated the spatial characteristics of the annual migration cycles of three wild migratory waterfowl species abundant in the Republic of Korea (ROK), and their association with the outbreaks of novel HPAI virus on domestic poultry farms, using satellite telemetry data from over 300 birds and national HPAI epidemic data
Our results revealed that commercial poultry farms located within the habitats of Common Teals, Mallards and Spot-billed Ducks, especially within the regions used for resting and feeding via short and mid-range flights (95% utilization distribution (UD)), showed significantly higher risk for HPAI outbreaks compared to poultry farms outside of the habitat

Summary

Introduction

Wild migratory waterfowl are considered one of the most important reservoirs and long-distance carriers of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). The association of habitat use with HPAI H5N8 outbreaks in poultry farms was evaluated using a multilevel logistic regression model. The range of wild waterfowl habitats increased during autumn migration, and was associated with the epidemic peak of HPAI outbreaks on domestic poultry farms in the ROK. Migratory waterfowl of the genus Anas, or “dabbling ducks”, are considered one of the most important reservoirs and long-distance carriers in the global spread of H. This information is supported by experimental evidence of asymptomatic avian influenza virus (AIV) infection and viral shedding in waterfowl[6,7,8,9,10,11,12], the genetic relatedness of AIV strains between poultry and wild b

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