Poster Presentation Australian Society for Microbiology Annual Scientific Meeting 2022

Pathogens of biosecurity significance detected in wild Australian kingfishers, parrots, pigeons and raptors. (#145)

Vasilli Kasimov 1 , Susan Anstey 1 , Martina Jelocnik 1 , Clancy Hall 1 , Renfu Shao 1 , Yalun Dong 1
  1. University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, QLD, Australia

Introduction

Birds may act as hosts for numerous pathogens, including members of the family Chlamydiaceae, beak and feather disease virus (BFDV) and columbid herpesvirus-1 (CoHV-1), all of a significant biosecurity concern in Australia. Previously, Chlamydiaceae and BFDV have been detected in various avian hosts in Australia1. However, the prevalence, host range and role in co-infection of CoHV-1 with these other pathogens in Australian birds remains comparatively understudied. This study investigated the prevalence and relationships between these important pathogens in wild Australian kingfishers, parrots, pigeons and raptors admitted for veterinary care.

 

Methods

Expanding upon the avian catalogue utilised in our previous study1, we screened 486 wild birds, consisting of kingfishers, parrots, pigeons and raptors, presented to the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital and Brisbane RSPCA between May 2019 – December 2021 for Chlamydiaceae, BFDV and CoHV-1 utilising previously described family and species-specific qPCR assays. To further investigate the genetic diversity of BFDV in birds, we performed Sanger sequencing, coupled with phylogenetic analyses.

 

Results

We detected a high level of BFDV (33.5%; 163/468), Chlamydiaceae (20.2%; 98/468) and a comparatively lower level of CoHV-1 (8.8%; 43/486) from all sampled avian orders. We additionally detected CoHV-1 within a series of novel hosts, such as the barn owl, sacred kingfisher and little corella. Lastly, further molecular characterisation reveals that BFDV detected from birds in this study are genetically diverse, have non-specific clustering and infect a broad range of avian hosts.

 

Conclusion

This study reinforces that both Chlamydiaceae and BFDV are commonly detected in wild Australian birds. Despite the prevalence of CoHV-1 being comparatively low, we also detected it within all samples avian orders and within previously undescribed avian hosts. Lastly, this study shows that BFDV strains that cause mortality in parrots are also found in other avian orders; however, they do not trigger disease manifestation.

  1. 1. Kasimov, V., Dong, Y., Shao, R., Brunton, A., Anstey, S. I., Hall, C., . . . Jelocnik, M. (2022). Emerging and well-characterised chlamydial infections detected in a wide range of wild Australian birds. Transbound Emerg Dis. doi:10.1111/tbed.14457