West Nile Virus Infection in Birds and Mosquitoes, New York State, 2000

Bernard, Kristen A.; Maffei, Joseph G.; Jones, Susan; Kauffman, Elizabeth B.; Ebel, Gregory D.; Dupuis, Alan P.; Ngo, Kiet; Nicholas, David; Young, Donna M.; Shi, Pei–Yong; Kulasekera, Varuni L.; Eidson, Millicent; White, Dan S.; Stone, Ward B.; Kramer, Laura D.

doi:10.3201/eid0704.010415

Cited by 196 publications

(154 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Multicollinearity was low for most multiple regression models in the regional study. Correlations among independent variables revealed only two significant correlations: human population density and vector abundance were positively correlated [consistent with previous work indicating that vector mosquitoes often exhibit higher abundance in urban areas (Barr 1957;Vinogradova 2000;Bernard et al 2001;Ebel et al 2005)], while bird diversity and community competence index were negatively correlated (fulfilling an important criterion for the occurrence of the dilution effect, where low-diversity communities are dominated by competent pathogen reservoirs) (Table 1). Multicollinearity was low for all multiple regression models in the national study (all variance inflation factors \1.21).…”

Section: Statisticssupporting

confidence: 85%

“…Some important vector mosquitoes, especially Culex spp. which breed effectively in artificial containers and storm drain systems (Pratt and Moore 1993;Su et al 2003), exhibit high abundance in urban areas (Barr 1957;Vinogradova 2000;Bernard et al 2001;Ebel et al 2005). This observation has led to the common but as-of-yet untested hypothesis that WNV incidence in humans may be higher in urban areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

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Ecological correlates of risk and incidence of West Nile virus in the United States

et al. 2008

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West Nile virus, which was recently introduced to North America, is a mosquito-borne pathogen that infects a wide range of vertebrate hosts, including humans. Several species of birds appear to be the primary reservoir hosts, whereas other bird species, as well as other vertebrate species, can be infected but are less competent reservoirs. One hypothesis regarding the transmission dynamics of West Nile virus suggests that high bird diversity reduces West Nile virus transmission because mosquito blood-meals are distributed across a wide range of bird species, many of which have low reservoir competence. One mechanism by which this hypothesis can operate is that high-diversity bird communities might have lower community-competence, defined as the sum of the product of each species' abundance and its reservoir competence index value. Additional hypotheses posit that West Nile virus transmission will be reduced when either: (1) abundance of mosquito vectors is low; or (2) human population density is low. We assessed these hypotheses at two spatial scales: a regional scale near Saint Louis, MO, and a national scale (continental USA). We found that prevalence of West Nile virus infection in mosquito vectors and in humans increased with decreasing bird diversity and with increasing reservoir competence of the bird community. Our results suggest that conservation of avian diversity might help ameliorate the current West Nile virus epidemic in the USA.

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Section: Statisticssupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Ecological correlates of risk and incidence of West Nile virus in the United States

et al. 2008

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“…We only analyzed data from American crows, because of the known lethality of WNV for this species. The large sample of available data from this species (Bernard et al, 2001;Eidson et al, 2001b) should make crow deaths a more reliable indicator of WNV prevalence than data from other species. Only data from 2000 were used, as this year represents the 1st year that WNV was widely distributed outside of the New York City area (providing a large sample size of counties with which to conduct analyses), while still presumably having large geographic variability in prevalence (providing the needed variation for statistical analyses).…”

Section: Data and Statistical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…We use data from the North American Christmas Bird Count (CBC;Butcher et al, 1990) in order to quantify crow mortality rates. Second, we determine whether the number of dead crows submitted and tested for WNV correlated with three separate measures of WNV prevalence: the proportion of crows that tested positive for WNV, mortality rates of crows from CBC data, and minimum infection rates of mosquitoes (Bernard et al, 2001). Data came from New York State, in which essentially all dead crows collected and submitted by the general public were tested for the presence of WNV.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of West Nile Virus on American Crows in the Northeastern United States, and Its Relevance to Existing Monitoring Programs

et al. 2004

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We assessed the changes in abundance of American crows in the northeastern U.S. following the arrival of West Nile virus (WNV), with two aims. First, we determined the impact and spatial extent of the initial epizootic that began in New York City. Second, we examined whether two existing surveillance programs monitoring for WNV (data from 2000 New York State dead bird testing, and 2000 mosquito testing) accurately predicted the observed impact of the disease on crow populations as measured using data from the North American Christmas Bird Count. The rationale for this second aim was that the two WNV surveys were new and with unknown biases and sensitivity, while the Christmas Bird Count has existed for decades, providing monitoring before the arrival of WNV in North America and a long time series of data useful in gauging sensitivity. As a result, the Christmas Bird Count represents a good benchmark against which to compare the two new surveillance programs. Consistency among these three sources of information was low, suggesting that while dead bird and mosquito surveys can currently indicate the later stages of severe outbreaks, the ability to consistently detect early stages of outbreaks is questionable.

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“…pipiens as the primary enzootic vector in this region. Culex pipiens has been established as an important enzootic vector by consistent isolations of WNV from mosquito trap collections [11,13,20], by its ornithophilic feeding behaviour [13,40,41], and associations between virus-infected mosquitoes and dead bird reports [42][43][44][45][46]. This species has also been incriminated as a bridge vector in Illinois [47].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vector host-feeding preferences drive transmission of multi-host pathogens: West Nile virus as a model system

et al. 2011

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Seasonal epizootics of vector-borne pathogens infecting multiple species are ecologically complex and difficult to forecast. Pathogen transmission potential within the host community is determined by the relative abilities of host species to maintain and transmit the pathogen and by ecological factors influencing contact rates between hosts and vectors. Increasing evidence of strong feeding preferences by a number of vectors suggests that the host community experienced by the pathogen may be very different from the local host community. We developed an empirically informed transmission model for West Nile virus (WNV) in four sites using one vector species (Culex pipiens) and preferred and non-preferred avian hosts. We measured strong feeding preferences for American robins (Turdus migratorius) by Cx. pipiens, quantified as the proportion of Cx. pipiens blood meals from robins in relation to their abundance (feeding index). The model accurately predicted WNV prevalence in Cx. pipiens at three of four sites. Sensitivity analysis revealed feeding preference was the most influential parameter on intensity and timing of peak WNV infection in Cx. pipiens and a threshold feeding index for transmission was identified. Our findings indicate host preferenceinduced contact heterogeneity is a key mediator of vector-borne pathogen epizootics in multi-species host communities, and should be incorporated into multi-host transmission models.

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West Nile Virus Infection in Birds and Mosquitoes, New York State, 2000

Cited by 196 publications

References 12 publications

Ecological correlates of risk and incidence of West Nile virus in the United States

Ecological correlates of risk and incidence of West Nile virus in the United States

Impact of West Nile Virus on American Crows in the Northeastern United States, and Its Relevance to Existing Monitoring Programs

Vector host-feeding preferences drive transmission of multi-host pathogens: West Nile virus as a model system

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