Geology topics

Magdalena Plancarte

Publications and source records attributed to Magdalena Plancarte.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2022

Avian influenza antibody prevalence increases with mercury contamination in wild waterfowl

Environmental contamination is widespread and can negatively impact wildlife health. Some contaminants, including heavy metals, have immunosuppressive effects, but prior studies have rarely measured contamination and disease simultaneously, which limits our understanding of how contaminants and pathogens interact to influence wildlife health. Here, we measured mercury concentrations, influenza infection, influenza antibodies, and body condition in 749 individuals from 11 species of wild ducks overwintering in California. We found that the odds of prior influenza infection increased more than five-fold across the observed range of blood mercury concentrations, while accounting for species, age, sex, and date. The prevalence of influenza infection was also higher in species with higher average mercury concentrations. We detected no relationship between influenza infection and body fat content. This positive relationship between influenza prevalence and mercury concentrations in migratory waterfowl suggests that immunotoxic effects of mercury contamination could promote the spread of avian influenza along migratory flyways, especially if influenza has minimal effects on bird health and mobility. More generally, these results show that the effects of environmental contamination could extend beyond the geographic area of contamination itself by altering the prevalence of infectious diseases in highly mobile hosts.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B↗

USGS2022

Spatiotemporal changes in influenza A virus prevalence among wild waterfowl inhabiting the continental United States throughout the annual cycle

Avian influenza viruses can pose serious risks to agricultural production, human health, and wildlife. An understanding of viruses in wild reservoir species across time and space is important to informing surveillance programs, risk models, and potential population impacts for vulnerable species. Although it is recognized that influenza A virus prevalence peaks in reservoir waterfowl in late summer through autumn, temporal and spatial variation across species has not been fully characterized. We combined two large influenza databases for North America and applied spatiotemporal models to explore patterns in prevalence throughout the annual cycle and across the continental United States for 30 waterfowl species. Peaks in prevalence in late summer through autumn were pronounced for dabbling ducks in the genera Anas and Spatula , but not Mareca . Spatially, areas of high prevalence appeared to be related to regional duck density, with highest predicted prevalence found across the upper Midwest during early fall, though further study is needed. We documented elevated prevalence in late winter and early spring, particularly in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Our results suggest that spatiotemporal variation in prevalence outside autumn staging areas may also represent a dynamic parameter to be considered in IAV ecology and associated risks.

Scientific Reports↗

USGS2019

Surveillance for highly pathogenic influenza A viruses in California during 2014–2015 provides insights into viral evolutionary pathways and the spatiotemporal extent of viruses in the Pacific Americas Flyway

We used surveillance data collected in California before, concurrent with, and subsequent to an outbreak of highly pathogenic (HP) clade 2.3.4.4 influenza A viruses (IAVs) in 2014–2015 to (i) evaluate IAV prevalence in waterfowl, (ii) assess the evidence for spill-over infections in marine mammals and (iii) genetically characterize low-pathogenic (LP) and HP IAVs to refine inference on the spatiotemporal extent of HP genome constellations and to evaluate possible evolutionary pathways. We screened samples from 1496 waterfowl and 1142 marine mammals collected from April 2014 to August 2015 and detected IAV RNA in 159 samples collected from birds ( n = 157) and pinnipeds ( n = 2). HP IAV RNA was identified in three samples originating from American wigeon ( Anas americana ). Genetic sequence data were generated for a clade 2.3.4.4 HP IAV-positive diagnostic sample and 57 LP IAV isolates. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that the HP IAV was a reassortant H5N8 virus with gene segments closely related to LP IAVs detected in mallards ( Anas platyrhynchos ) sampled in California and other IAVs detected in wild birds sampled within the Pacific Americas Flyway. In addition, our analysis provided support for common ancestry between LP IAVs recovered from waterfowl sampled in California and gene segments of reassortant HP H5N1 IAVs detected in British Columbia, Canada and Washington, USA. Our investigation provides evidence that waterfowl are likely to have played a role in the evolution of reassortant HP IAVs in the Pacific Americas Flyway during 2014–2015, whereas we did not find support for spill-over infections in potential pinniped hosts.

Emerging Microbes & Infections↗