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Ecological factors contributing to persistence of multiple highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses circulating among the poultry farms in Taiwan during 2015-17

Day-Yu Chao1, 2*
  • 1 National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan
  • 2 Institute of Microbiology and Public Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan

Emergence and intercontinental spread of unprecedented, highly pathogenic avian influenza A (HPAI) H5Nx virus clade 2.3.4.4 resulted in major economic losses in the poultry industry in Asia, Europe and North America. Being on the flyway of migrating birds, Taiwan experienced epidemics caused by four different subtypes of HPAI virus clade 2.3.4.4 between 2015 and 2017. Based on both mandatory and active surveillance, H5N3 and H5N6 were only detected during 2015 and 2017, respectively, while H5N2 and H5N8 have been persistently detected among poultry farms for three consecutive years since their first arrival in 2015. Combining satellite imaging, this investigation sought to assess the importance of various ecological factors that may have contributed to each HPAI subtype hotspots over three consecutive years. Four risk factors consistently showed strong association with the spatial clustering identified by H5N2 and H5N8 during 2015 and 2017, including high poultry farm density, poultry heterogeneity index, non-registered waterfowl flock density and higher percentage of cropping land coverage. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study using satellite technology to identify domestic waterfowl flocks. Our study highlights the importance of specific environmental factors in facilitating the persistence of specific subtypes of HPAI H5Nx in certain locations.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their deepest appreciation to the work team from Animal Health Inspection Division, BAPHIQ for the efforts in actively identifying outbreaks. The work is funded by BAPHIQ. We are also thankful of Dr. T.S. Chen, from the Endemic Species Research Institute (ESRI), COA, kindly providing the wetland database.

References

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Keywords: Highly pathogenic avian influenza, hot spot, Spatial Analysis, Risk map, remote sensing

Conference: GeoVet 2019. Novel spatio-temporal approaches in the era of Big Data, Davis, United States, 8 Oct - 10 Oct, 2019.

Presentation Type: Regular oral presentation

Topic: Spatio-temporal surveillance and modeling approaches

Citation: Chao D (2019). Ecological factors contributing to persistence of multiple highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses circulating among the poultry farms in Taiwan during 2015-17. Front. Vet. Sci. Conference Abstract: GeoVet 2019. Novel spatio-temporal approaches in the era of Big Data. doi: 10.3389/conf.fvets.2019.05.00033

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Received: 16 Jun 2019; Published Online: 27 Sep 2019.

* Correspondence: Prof. Day-Yu Chao, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan, dychao@nchu.edu.tw