title: Movements of birds and avian influenza from Asia into Alaska.
abstract: Asian-origin avian influenza (AI) viruses are spread in part by migratory birds. In Alaska, diverse avian hosts from Asia and the Americas overlap in a region of intercontinental avifaunal mixing. This region is hypothesized to be a zone of Asia-to-America virus transfer because birds there can mingle in waters contaminated by wild-bird-origin AI viruses. Our 7 years of AI virus surveillance among waterfowl and shorebirds in this region (1998-2004; 8,254 samples) showed remarkably low infection rates (0.06%). Our findings suggest an Arctic effect on viral ecology, caused perhaps by low ecosystem productivity and low host densities relative to available water. Combined with a synthesis of avian diversity and abundance, intercontinental host movements, and genetic analyses, our results suggest that the risk and probably the frequency of intercontinental virus transfer in this region are relatively low.
authors.affiliation: University of Alaska Museum, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775, USA. ffksw@uaf.edu
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Winker
authors.forename: Kevin G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: McCracken
authors.forename: Daniel D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Gibson
authors.forename: Christin L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Pruett
authors.forename: Rose
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Meier
authors.forename: Falk
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Huettmann
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wege
authors.forename: Irina V
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Kulikova
authors.forename: Yuri N
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Zhuravlev
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Perdue
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Spackman
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Suarez
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Swayne
mesh_terms: D000413:Alaska / Q000453:epidemiology; D025041:Animal Migration; D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000502:physiology* / Q000821:virology; D046090:Anseriformes / Q000502:physiology / Q000821:virology; D001208:Asia / Q000453:epidemiology; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology* / Q000821:virology; D053124:Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D005585:Influenza in Birds / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology