Our approach
We aim to take a One Health approach which recognises that the health of people, animals, plants and the environment is closely interconnected.
Adopting this approach helps enhance our understanding of mosquito-borne diseases of wild birds that may impact public health
Our network is made up of:
molecular scientists
disease ecologists
wildlife veterinarians
population ecologists
medical entomologists
citizen scientists
Enhanced surveillance for mosquito-borne viral diseases of wild birds in the United Kingdom
We will expand the existing surveillance network to complement core government-funded surveillance by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). The network combines government surveillance with surveillance and specialist expertise in birds and bird disease from the Institute of Zoology (IoZ) and the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).
The project will work with bird observatories and bird ringers and encourage them to collect samples. This will increase the number of avian and mosquito samples submitted for flavivirus screening from areas in the UK deemed at higher risk of emerging viral incursion. Viral incursion happens when a virus is introduced into an area where it is not currently present.
The project will also expand surveillance by working with wildlife rehabilitators, zoological collections and other stakeholders to increase awareness of diseases in birds and encourage the submission of specimens for testing.
Develop an early warning system for the detection of potentially zoonotic viral disease outbreaks in
wild bird populations
We will use established citizen science disease surveillance and bird monitoring schemes for disease to support the early detection of disease outbreaks.
A workflow will identify clusters of disease reports in sentinel species,which may show signs of disease before it is detected in other species. It will carry out surveillance of clinical signs of disease, for example neurological symptoms, through the Garden Wildlife Health project. This will be combined with reductions in weekly reporting rates from BTO’s Garden BirdWatch participants.
These schemes generate data in near real-time and helped identify patterns of blackbird deaths and disease-related population declines caused by Usutu virus (USUV) in the UK in 2020.
Detect novel mosquito-borne viral disease and incipient transmission pathways
We will sample live migrant birds and mosquito populations found in the same locations, alongside sequence characterisation. This will help identify early transmission pathways and understand how the virus is introduced to an area.
This will include assessing mosquito species diversity and population densities at key bird land-fall sites and ringing stations. This may identify exotic mosquito vectors, species not native to the UK that can transmit disease.
This work will improve our understanding of the role of local mosquito species in disease transmission, which will guide disease mitigation and mosquito control strategies.
We will record annual infection and exposure status for a subset of migrant and resident birds in the south-east of England. These birds will be sampled throughout the mosquito-active season to identify potential incursion and transmission pathways and at-risk populations.
Quantify seasonal variation in blackbird demography and habitat use
We will work with BTO citizen scientists to ring blackbirds at sentinel sites (locations monitored for early signs of disease), where mosquito sampling will take place at the same time. The project will also work with the wider citizen science network to monitor how adult and juvenile blackbirds use gardens at different times of the year.
These findings will improve our understanding of how Usutu virus (USUV) affects blackbird populations in the United Kingdom.