Emerging infectious diseases are a major threat to human and animal health, Zoonotic diseases have important socioeconomic impactsthreatening the development of various countries and the global economy.
The number of outbreaks of avian influenza viruses and other emerging infectious diseases reported in Europe has increased in recent decades. Influenza A viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae are the only orthomyxoviruses known to naturally affect birds.Although Infectious events in humans are rareThe deadliest influenza pandemic in recent human history involved an avian virus.
These viruses are divided into two categories based on their ability to cause illness and death in poultry: low-pathogenic avian influenza viruses (LPAIV) and highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIV). LPAIV does not cause signs of illness or mild illness. However, LPAIV in wild animals can have some negative effects on the animal’s life cycle and population dynamics (i.e., reduce its migratory and foraging performance).
this HPAIV causes severe disease and high mortality in poultry. However, ducks and other waterfowl can become infected without showing signs of disease.
Many avian reservoirs are associated with aquatic habitats as the virus can be transmitted via the fecal-oral route Can survive in water for several days Or even longer, depending on pH, salinity and temperature. The orders Anseriformes (mainly ducks and geese) and Snipeformes (mainly gulls) are the main hosts of these viruses.
In addition to impacting wildlife conservation and biodiversity, highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses cause economic losses in poultry and are a source of zoonotic viruses causing major human epidemics. For these reasons, avian influenza viruses have become the focus of attention. Surveillance efforts around the world. In the EU, Council Directive 2005/94/EC requires EU member states to conduct avian influenza surveillance. Since 2018, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has been mandated to collect, verify and summarize data collected in each member state.
The importance of surveillance and early detection
surveillance and Need to be detected and analyzed early Assess possible changes in host species and risks, plan appropriate responses to reduce impacts to animals and humans, raise awareness and identify areas that should be prioritized for monitoring.
For these, it is important Early detection of unusual numbers of sick or dead wild birds. In this sense, data about sick and dead birds often come from social and collaborative networks.
This fact is a result of the growing interest in biodiversity conservation and citizen science, which has given rise to platforms that leverage new technologies, They collected a lot of information about biodiversity observationsespecially birds from around the world.
In this regard, Spain has conducted a study with the participation of the High Council for Scientific Research proposing to test the usefulness of information collected by the Common Platform for Biodiversity Surveillance for the early detection of avian influenza viruses in Europe. .The purpose of this study is to investigate the capabilities of natural monitoring platforms and Suggest possible ways to increase its pathogen surveillance utility.
To conduct this work, the authors gathered data provided by the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), “a public interface for extracting officially verified animal health data.”In addition, others Reports of sick and dead birds are collected from the Observation.org platformis one of the largest platforms for citizens to record observations of wild specimens from around the world, with many participants coming from Europe.
“On Observation.org, participants can record whether an observation belongs to a healthy, sick, or dead individual. We focus on sick and dead Anseriformes and Snipeformes because they are the primary reservoirs of influenza in nature ,” the author clarified.
For comparison, the researchers focused on sick and dead anseriformes and cormorants in Belgium and the Netherlands from 2016 to 2021.
Officially declared outbreak period
During the study period, they examined changes in the proportion of sick and dead birds on a monthly or weekly basis. WOAH The period during which the outbreak was reported. For each month and week during the study period, they calculated the proportion of sick and dead birds, which is the ratio between the “number of sick and dead birds” and the “number of reported observations.”
During this period, 854,057 observers in Belgium and the Netherlands recorded 46,367,150 observations of Anseriformes and Cormorants, of which 23,166 were sick and dead birds (43.49% Anseriformes and 56.51% Cormorants).
The researchers analyzed the data to see if there were significant differences Weekly proportion of sick and dead birds during the epidemic and non-epidemic periods from 2016 to 2021.
Between 2016 and 2021, 15 HPAIV outbreaks were officially reported in the Netherlands and 5 in Belgium.The data collected shows The highest monthly proportions of sick and dead birds reported by the research platform overlap with HPAIV outbreak periods Officially reported in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Similarly, the proportion of sick and dead birds increased between January and March 2016 and January and March 2019, but no HPAIV incidents were officially reported. They commented that these higher mortality events, Possibly due to unintentional spread of avian influenzaother infectious diseases, poisoning or, more likely, cold spells and/or sea storms, these are often associated with increased bird mortality.
Effectiveness of Citizen Science
In summary, the study has been able to demonstrate “formally declared HPAIV outbreaks” Overlaps with dramatic increase in proportion of dead and sick birds reported by Observation.org”.
Therefore, the authors suggest that these platforms “may be Useful tools to supplement current monitoring programs Controlling influenza viruses by identifying where and when unusual bird deaths occur. “
Such platforms “can provide automated early warning systems by implementing algorithms that rapidly identify mortality anomalies, thereby facilitating sample testing, collection, and laboratory analysis Detecting infectious disease outbreaks“.
In summary, “this citizen science can be an effective tool Optimize resources in areas with more limited resources available for sample collection and analysis by conducting direct observations in areas where wildlife mortality is highest. “