Wildvögel Monitoring/Surveillance

FAO: Guidelines on wild bird surveillance for H5N1Vittorio Guberti & Scott H.. Newman
1 Istituto Nazionale Fauna Selvatica, Ozzano E. (BO), Italy
2 Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, NY, USA
3 Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy
Power point presentation

Wildlife Surveillance for H5N1
• Difficult to accomplish
• Complicated in nature, especially logistics
• Will require a large, coordinated team(s)
• Many things can (and will) go wrong
• Planning is almost as important as field sampling to
ensure that things go as smoothly as possible
• Targeted species testing, not random
• Collect samples from both live and dead birds
• Concurrently collect additional surveillance samples (serology, heavy metals, ecotoxins, isotope work, genetics, etc.

OBJECTIVES OF EPIZOOTIOLOGICAL SURVEILLANCE STUDIES
• Epidemiological (humans) sampling or epizootiological (animals) sampling is based testing large numbers of individuals but extrapolating results to populations
– Determine prevalence of disease (endemic or not)
– Determine its significance to the population
– Describe & characterize the environmental variables associated with disease emergence – Identify factors that may lead to disease emergence
(natural history, ecology, anthropogenic activities, etc.)
– Determine methods to monitor, prevent, control, & reduce disease
– Identify management steps that can be taken to minimize disease transmission with an emphasis on preventing transmission to agricultural species and humans

Families & Species Found by FAO/OIE to Be Positive as of 15 May 2006
● Accipitridae ● Falconidae
– Northern Goshawk – Common Kestrel
– Common Buzzard – Peregrine Falcon
– Rough-Legged Hawk
● Strigidae ● Sturnidae
– Eagle Owl – Crested Myna
● Corvidae
– Crows (House, Carrion, Jungle or Large-Billed)
– Common Magpie
● Zosteropidae ● Columbidae
– Japanese White-Eye – Collared Dove
● Anatidae
– Ducks (Northern Pintail, Mallard, Smew, Greater Scaup, Tufted Duck, Common Merganser, Pochard & Scoter)
– Geese (Lesser White-Fronted, Grey-Lag, Canada)
– Swan (Whooper, Mute)
● Rallidae ● Ardeidae
– Coots (American, Common) – Gray Heron, Little Egret
● Laridae ● Phalacrocoracidae
– Gull (Herring, Black-Headed – Great Cormorant
● Podicipedidae
– Great Crested Greb

Can we make a “top 10” list of species to sample ?
• YES
• But…….the list will change wherever sampling is performed
• Multiple factors contribute to decision involved in what species to sample

International Wildlife Surveillance
• Based on cllearlly defiined aiims
• Based on sound epiidemiiollogiicall justtificattions for sampling
• Requires suffiicient technical skills from biollogists,, veterinarians,, and others
– Conducting field work (bird captures/sampling) to ensure that quality samples are collected in a minimally invasive way, stored and transported appropriately
– Approved laboratory

International Wildlife Surveillance
• Should contain 3 parts:
1) Passive Surveillance
– Rehabilitation centers
– Oil spill response efforts
– Zoological collections
– Bird banders/ringers
– Other wild bird research
– Mortality event investigations
– Hunters
– Beached birds survey
programs methods that meet FAO/OIE standards
• Requiires exttensiive collaboration
• Should partsShould contain 3 parts:
2) Actiive Surveillance
– Species that have died from H5N1
– Species known to be carriers of other Avian Influenza viruses
– Species that are social and occur in high aggregations at certain times of the year
– Species that potentially use habitat near poultry/duck/goose farms or back yard flocks
– Species that have seasonal movements or migratory patterns that may explain disease emergence from country to country, or trans-continentally

CLINICAL STUDIES NECESSARY TO COMPLIMENT SURVEILLANCE ACTIVITIES
• Clinical studies- based on individuals & determine cause-effect relationships between host (wild birds) & pathogen (H5N1)
– If exposed, do wild birds become clinically ill, develop immunity and survive, die, or some combination ?
– If exposed, do wild birds shed virus? If so, for how long after exposure?
– If exposed, are birds healthy enough to migrate ?
– If yes, for how many days do they shed virus while on the move ?
– Are there species differences as far as disease
susceptibility, virus shedding, ability to migrate, etc.?

Take Home Points
• Both live and dead bird surveillance is warranted
• More funding is necessary to start to understand disease prevalence among wildlife species
• We can make a top 10 species list, but understanding the variables that guide decisions as to which birds to sample is more important, and factors will vary regionally
• If surveillance is conducted, a wildlife contingency plan should exist and a mechanism to respond to positive test results should be in place
• To fully understand the disease ecology, we need a combination of clinical studies, wildlife surveillance results, and ecological information

Unhealthy Ecosystems
Loss of ecosystem services
A high prevalence of disease is one of the key indicators of ecosystem pathology
A sick ecosystem iincreases the health risks of its components (other speciies)
Rapport 1999
BSE
Avian Malaria
Lyme Disease
Chytridiomycosis
Avian influenza
Tick Borne Encephalitis
Human Malaria
Monkey Pox
Nipah Virus
SARS

Health connects all species

http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/subje...cards/conference/documents/Guberti-Newman.pdf