Potential risk of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) spreading through wild water bird migration

Animal Production and Health Division

Potential risk of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) spreading through wild water bird migration

Updated version

Year of publication 2005

Pages 5p.

Author Animal Production and Health Division

Product type Book (series)

Series title EMPRES Watch

Edition 1

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Synopsis (short abstract) There is a potential that Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) subtype H5N1 might be carried along migration routes of wild water birds to densely populated areas in the south Asian subcontinent and along migratory flyways to Europe. Recent outbreaks of HPAI in Russia and Kazakhstan (August, 2005) attest to this fact. Looking at the major bird migration routes (Fig. 1), the HPAI H5N1 virus could possibly spread from Siberia to the Caspian and Black Sea areas in the foreseeable future. Some w ild water birds are nesting in the newly AI affected areas in Novosibirsk and Altai in Russia and will migrate to the above-mentioned areas for winter or stop-over on their way to Africa and Europe. Bird migration routes run across Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, Georgia, Ukraine and some Mediterranean countries, where bird flu outbreaks are a possibility. Also India and Bangladesh, which currently seem to be uninfected, are at risk because both areas harbour large numbers of domestic duck and the count ries are situated along one of the major migratory routes. They have the potential to become new large endemic foci of HPAI infection. Additionally, spring migration of 2006 may result in the spread of HPAI H5N1 virus across European Russia, because birds migrating from Europe and European Russia and Siberia have common wintering areas in Southwest Asia.

Language English

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Document

Avian Influenza Disease Emergency: issue No. 33 (01/09/2005)
Update of the Avian Influenza situation
2005

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There is a potential that Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) subtype H5N1 might be carried along migration routes of wild water birds to densely populated areas in the south Asian subcontinent and along migratory flyways to Europe. Recent outbreaks of HPAI in Russia and Kazakhstan (August, 2005) attest to this fact. Looking at the major bird migration routes (Fig. 1), the HPAI H5N1 virus could possibly spread from Siberia to the Caspian and Black Sea areas in the foreseeable future. Some w ild water birds are nesting in the newly AI affected areas in Novosibirsk and Altai in Russia and will migrate to the above-mentioned areas for winter or stop-over on their way to Africa and Europe. Bird migration routes run across Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, Georgia, Ukraine and some Mediterranean countries, where bird flu outbreaks are a possibility. Also India and Bangladesh, which currently seem to be uninfected, are at risk because both areas harbour large numbers of domestic duck and the count ries are situated along one of the major migratory routes. They have the potential to become new large endemic foci of HPAI infection. Additionally, spring migration of 2006 may result in the spread of HPAI H5N1 virus across European Russia, because birds migrating from Europe and European Russia and Siberia have common wintering areas in Southwest Asia.
Article

Waterfowl Spring Migratory Behavior and Avian Influenza Transmission Risk in the Changing Landscape of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway
Frontiers Ecology and Evolution, Volume 6, Article 206
2018

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Avian influenza has advanced from a regional concern to a global health issue with significant economic, trade, and public health implications. Wild birds, particularly waterfowl (Anseriformes), are known reservoirs for low-pathogenic avian influenza viruses (AIV) and recent studies have shown their potential in the spread of highly pathogenic forms of virus. East Asia remains an epicenter for the emergence of novel strains of AIV, however, information on movement ecology of waterfowl, and subsequently a clearer understanding of disease transmission risks in this region has been greatly lacking. To address this, we marked two species of wild waterfowl, northern pintail (Anas acuta) and Eurasian wigeon (Anas penelope), with satellite transmitters on their wintering grounds in Hong Kong, China to study the northward spring migration in the East Asian Australasian Flyway in relation to disease transmission factors. Northern pintail were found to initiate migration 42 days earlier, travel 2,150 km farther, and perform 4.4 more stopovers than Eurasian wigeon. We found both species used similar stopover locations including areas along the Yangtze River near Shanghai, Bohai Bay and Korea Bay in rapidly developing regions of the Yellow Sea, and the Sea of Okhotsk where the species appeared to funnel through a migratory bottleneck. Both species appeared to exhibit strong habitat selection for rice paddies during migration stopovers, a habitat preference which has the potential to influence risks of AIV outbreaks as rapid land use and land cover changes occur throughout China. Both species had greatest association with H5N1 outbreaks during the early stages of migration when they were at lower latitudes. While Eurasian wigeon were not associated with outbreaks after the mean date of wintering ground departures, northern pintail were associated with outbreaks until the majority of individuals departed from the Yellow Sea, a migratory stopover location. Our results show species-level differences in migration timing and behavior for these common and widespread species, demonstrating the need to consider their unique temporal and spatial movement ecology when incorporating wild birds into AIV risk modeling and management.
Book (series)
H5N8 Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) of Clade 2.3.4.4 detected through surveillance of wild migratory birds in Tyva Republic, Russian Federation – potential for international spread 2016

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French

H5N8 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus of Clade 2.3.4.4 has been detected in migratory birds at Lake Ubsu-Nur in Tyva Republic of the Russian Federation, located on the Central Asian Flyway. Detection of HPAI virus in this location in the past has repeatedly been followed several months later by detection of similar virus in other locations especially to the West and South of Tyva Republic. All countries along this flyway and those to the West in the former Soviet Republics, The Mid dle East, Eastern Europe and even Africa (especially West Africa) should be on the alert for incursions of this virus.