4.8 Article

Transmission of influenza reflects seasonality of wild birds across the annual cycle

Journal

ECOLOGY LETTERS
Volume 19, Issue 8, Pages 915-925

Publisher

WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/ele.12629

Keywords

Avian influenza; biological rhythms; bird migration; host contact structure; influenza A virus; migratory cycle; seasonality; transmission networks; viral flow; zoonotic disease

Categories

Funding

  1. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (K. Trust, Alaska Region, Migratory Bird Management)
  2. Delta Waterfowl Foundation
  3. Institute for Wetland and Waterfowl Research, NIH: CEIRS [HHSN272201400008C, HHSN266200700010C]
  4. UAF: INBRE from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) of NIH [5P20RR016466]

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Influenza A Viruses (IAV) in nature must overcome shifting transmission barriers caused by the mobility of their primary host, migratory wild birds, that change throughout the annual cycle. Using a phylogenetic network of viral sequences from North American wild birds (2008-2011) we demonstrate a shift from intraspecific to interspecific transmission that along with reassortment, allows IAV to achieve viral flow across successive seasons from summer to winter. Our study supports amplification of IAV during summer breeding seeded by overwintering virus persisting locally and virus introduced from a wide range of latitudes. As birds migrate from breeding sites to lower latitudes, they become involved in transmission networks with greater connectivity to other bird species, with interspecies transmission of reassortant viruses peaking during the winter. We propose that switching transmission dynamics may be a critical strategy for pathogens that infect mobile hosts inhabiting regions with strong seasonality.

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