Risk of Avian Influenza Exposure. Human - Wildlife Interface

[Giuseppe]

Risk for Avian Influenza Virus Exposure at Human?Wildlife Interface

Jennifer Siembieda,* Christine K. Johnson,* Walter Boyce,* Christian Sandrock,? and Carol Cardona*
*University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, Davis, California, USA; and ?University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, Sacramento, California, USA

To assess risk for human exposure to avian influenza viruses (AIV), we sampled California wild birds and marine mammals during October 2005?August 2007and estimated human?wildlife contact.

Waterfowl hunters were 8 times more likely to have contact with AIV-infected wildlife than persons with casual or occupational exposures (p<0.0001).
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http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/14/7/pdfs/08-0066.pdf
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Re: _|EID: RISK OF AVIAN INFLUENZA VIRUS EXPOSURE. HUMAN-WILDLIFE IF|_

Re: _|EID: RISK OF AVIAN INFLUENZA VIRUS EXPOSURE. HUMAN-WILDLIFE IF|_

A snip about the testing and novel transmission in hospital settings:

Cloacal samples were taken from birds and nasal and rectal samples from marine mammals with rayon-tipped swabs. Birds in recovery also had oropharyngeal samples taken. Swab samples were placed in viral transport media, transported within 24 hours from the site of collection to the University of California, Davis, in a cooler with ice packs and then transferred to a ?70?C freezer for storage. A total of 9,157 samples were tested for AIV. Of these, 2,346were screened by virus isolation in embryonating chicken eggs and 6,811 were screened by real-time reverse transcription?PCR. All positive samples were tested for Eurasian H5 viruses.

Novel transmission pathways are possible in places like recovery hospitals because wild species that do not meet in nature are brought into close and extended contact with each other and humans. For example, marine mammals are susceptible to infection with AIV and human influenza viruses and have been documented as intermediate hosts. Other species may also be intermediate hosts for AIV, although they have not been identified.