title: Prevalence and Genetic Diversity of Avipoxvirus in House Sparrows in Spain.
abstract: Avipoxvirus (APV) is a fairly common virus affecting birds that causes morbidity and mortality in wild and captive birds. We studied the prevalence of pox-like lesions and genetic diversity of APV in house sparrows (Passer domesticus) in natural, agricultural and urban areas in southern Spain in 2013 and 2014 and in central Spain for 8 months (2012-2013). Overall, 3.2% of 2,341 house sparrows visually examined in southern Spain had cutaneous lesions consistent with avian pox. A similar prevalence (3%) was found in 338 birds from central Spain. Prevalence was higher in hatch-year birds than in adults. We did not detect any clear spatial or temporal patterns of APV distribution. Molecular analyses of poxvirus-like lesions revealed that 63% of the samples were positive. Molecular and phylogenetic analyses of 29 DNA sequences from the fpv167 gene, detected two strains belonging to the canarypox clade (subclades B1 and B2) previously found in Spain. One of them appears predominant in Iberia and North Africa and shares 70% similarity to fowlpox and canarypox virus. This APV strain has been identified in a limited number of species in the Iberian Peninsula, Morocco and Hungary. The second one has a global distribution and has been found in numerous wild bird species around the world. To our knowledge, this represents the largest study of avian poxvirus disease in the broadly distributed house sparrow and strongly supports the findings that Avipox prevalence in this species in South and central Spain is moderate and the genetic diversity low.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiología III, Facultad de Biología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Martínez
authors.affiliation: Estación Biológica de Doñana, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferraguti
authors.affiliation: Estación Biológica de Doñana, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Sevilla, Spain.|CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain.
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Figuerola
authors.affiliation: Estación Biológica de Doñana, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Sevilla, Spain.|CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain.
authors.forename: Josué
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martínez-de la Puente
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Zoología y Antropología Física, Facultad de Biología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Richard Alexander John
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Zoología y Antropología Física, Facultad de Biología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Amparo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Herrera-Dueñas
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Zoología y Antropología Física, Facultad de Biología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: José Ignacio
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Aguirre
authors.affiliation: Estación Biológica de Doñana, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Sevilla, Spain.|CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain.
authors.forename: Ramón
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Soriguer
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiología III, Facultad de Biología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Clara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Escudero
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Zoología y Antropología Física, Facultad de Biología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Michaël André Jean
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Moens
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Zoología y Antropología Física, Facultad de Biología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pérez-Tris
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiología III, Facultad de Biología, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Benítez
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D018150:Avipoxvirus / Q000235:genetics*; D001715:Bird Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D011213:Poxviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000662:veterinary*; D015995:Prevalence; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D046370:Sparrows / Q000235:genetics* / Q000821:virology; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins