Spatiotemporal patterns of low and highly pathogenic avian influenza virus prevalence in murres in Canada from 2007 to 2022—a case study for wildlife viral monitoring
Angela McLaughlin,
Jolene Giacinti,
Ishraq Rahman,
Jordan Wight,
Kathryn Hargan,
Andrew S. Lang,
Mark L. Mallory,
Gregory J. Robertson,
Kyle Elliot,
Davor Ojkic,
Stéphane Lair,
Megan Jones,
Yohannes Berhane,
Grant Gilchrist,
Laurie Wilson,
Sabina I. Wilhelm,
Michael G.C. Brown,
Jennifer F. Provencher
Affiliations
Angela McLaughlin
Bioinformatics, University of British Columbia, 2300 Lower Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
Jolene Giacinti
Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Wildlife Research Centre ℅ Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1A 0H3, Canada
Ishraq Rahman
Department of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 45 Arctic Ave., St John's, NL A1C 5S7, Canada
Jordan Wight
Department of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 45 Arctic Ave., St John's, NL A1C 5S7, Canada
Kathryn Hargan
Department of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 45 Arctic Ave., St John's, NL A1C 5S7, Canada
Andrew S. Lang
Department of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 45 Arctic Ave., St John's, NL A1C 5S7, Canada
Mark L. Mallory
Department of Biology, Acadia University, 15 University Drive, Wolfville, NS B4P 2R6, Canada
Gregory J. Robertson
Environment and Climate Change Canada, 6 Bruce Street, Mount Pearl, NL A1N 4T3, Canada
Kyle Elliot
Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, 3-041 Macdonald-Stewart Building, 21 111 Rue Lakeshore, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3V9, Canada
Davor Ojkic
Animal Health Laboratory, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1H 2W1, Canada
Stéphane Lair
Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, Université de Montréal, 3200 Rue Sicotte, Saint-Hyacinthe, QC J2S 2M2, Canada
Megan Jones
Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, University of Prince Edward Island, 550 University Avenue, Charlottetown, PE C1A 4P3, Canada
Yohannes Berhane
Canadian Food Inspection Agency, National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, Winnipeg, MB R3E 3M4, Canada
Grant Gilchrist
Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Wildlife Research Centre, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1A 0H3, Canada
Laurie Wilson
Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Pacific Wildlife Research Centre, 5421 Robertson Road RR#1, Delta, BC V4K 3N2, Canada
Sabina I. Wilhelm
Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 6 Bruce Street, Mount Pearl, NL A1N 4T3, Canada
Migratory seabirds move across ocean basins and are one of the primary reservoirs of low pathogenic avian influenza virus (LPAIV). This includes the millions of thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia) and common murres (Uria aalge) that are distributed across northern hemisphere oceans. In response to increasingly frequent detections of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) in Europe in 2020–2021, avian influenza virus (AIV) monitoring in wildlife has increased. We compiled data from murres tested for AIV in Canada between 2007 and 2022 to quantify spatiotemporal variation in the prevalence of LPAIV and HPAIV in these birds. No HPAIV was detected in murres prior to 2022, but HPAIV was present in 46% of both live/harvested and found dead murres in the northwestern Atlantic in 2022 with prevalence peaking at 63% among live birds in the summer. In the eastern Canadian Arctic, HPAIV prevalence in 2022 was <1% while LPAIV prevalence was 21%, which was significantly higher than previous sampling years. Power analyses suggest approximately 100 samples from breeding murres should be collected annually per colony or region to detect moderate changes in HPAIV prevalence. These analyses inform robust monitoring of viruses in wildlife, with implications for conservation, harvest management, and public health.
