Abstract
Wild birds are major natural reservoirs and potential dispersers of a variety of infectious diseases. As such, it is important to determine the diversity of viruses they carry and use this information to help understand the potential risks of spillover to humans, domestic animals, and other wildlife. We investigated the potential viral causes of paresis in long-standing, but undiagnosed, disease syndromes in wild Australian birds. RNA from diseased birds was extracted and pooled based on tissue type, host species, and clinical manifestation for metagenomic sequencing. Using a bulk and unbiased metatranscriptomic approach, combined with clinical investigation and histopathology, we identified a number of novel viruses from the families Astroviridae, Adenoviridae, Picornaviridae, Polyomaviridae, Paramyxoviridae, Parvoviridae, and Circoviridae in common urban wild birds, including Australian magpies, magpie larks, pied currawongs, Australian ravens, and rainbow lorikeets. In each case, the presence of the virus was confirmed by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR. These data revealed a number of candidate viral pathogens that may contribute to coronary, skeletal muscle, vascular, and neuropathology in birds of the Corvidae and Artamidae families and neuropathology in members of the Psittaculidae The existence of such a diverse virome in urban avian species highlights the importance and challenges in elucidating the etiology and ecology of wildlife pathogens in urban environments. This information will be increasingly important for managing disease risks and conducting surveillance for potential viral threats to wildlife, livestock, and human health.IMPORTANCE Wildlife naturally harbor a diverse array of infectious microorganisms and can be a source of novel diseases in domestic animals and human populations. Using unbiased RNA sequencing, we identified highly diverse viruses in native birds from Australian urban environments presenting with paresis. This research included the clinical investigation and description of poorly understood recurring syndromes of unknown etiology: clenched claw syndrome and black and white bird disease. As well as identifying a range of potentially disease-causing viral pathogens, this study describes methods that can effectively and efficiently characterize emergent disease syndromes in free-ranging wildlife and promotes further surveillance for specific pathogens of potential conservation and zoonotic concern.
Highlights
Wild birds are major natural reservoirs and potential dispersers of a variety of infectious diseases
Neurological syndromes, such as paresis, are of particular concern, as many zoonotic viral pathogens carried by wild birds with the potential to cause neurological disease are potentially hazardous to poultry, other livestock, and humans
The index case was a juvenile female rainbow lorikeet found in Mosman, New South Wales (NSW), in November 1984, while the last known case was recorded in an adult female from the same location in May 2007
Summary
Wild birds are major natural reservoirs and potential dispersers of a variety of infectious diseases. Emerging and reemerging infectious diseases in humans often originate in wildlife, with free-living birds representing major natural reservoirs and potential dispersers of a variety of zoonotic pathogens [1] Neurological syndromes, such as paresis, are of particular concern, as many zoonotic viral pathogens carried by wild birds with the potential to cause neurological disease are potentially hazardous to poultry, other livestock, and humans. A major issue for the prevention and control of wildlife and zoonotic diseases is how rapidly and accurately we can identify a pathogen, determine its origin, and institute biosecurity measures to limit cross-species transmission and onward spread With these ever-changing environments, wildlife are at risk from a conservation perspective, and a number of emerging viral pathogens (WNV, Usutu virus, avian poxvirus, avian influenza virus, Bellinger River snapping turtle nidovirus) have had adverse population-level impacts [3,4,5,6,7,8]. Notable examples include two syndromes, termed “clenched claw disease” [23,24,25,26,27,28] and “black and white bird disease” [29,30,31], which affect rainbow lorikeets (Trichoglossus moluccanus) and several species of passerines, respectively
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