Herd immunity drives the epidemic fadeout of avian cholera in Arctic-nesting seabirds

Avian cholera, caused by the bacterium Pasteurella multocida , is a common and important infectious disease of wild birds in North America. Between 2005 and 2012, avian cholera caused annual mortality of widely varying magnitudes in Northern common eiders ( Somateria mollissima borealis ) breeding a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2021-01, Vol.11 (1), p.1046-10, Article 1046
Main Authors: van Dijk, Jacintha G. B., Iverson, Samuel A., Gilchrist, H. Grant, Harms, N. Jane, Hennin, Holly L., Love, Oliver P., Buttler, E. Isabel, Lesceu, Stephanie, Foster, Jeffrey T., Forbes, Mark R., Soos, Catherine
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/158/1469
692/699
Animals
Aquatic birds
Arctic Regions
Bird Diseases
Cholera
Colonies
Ducks
Ecology
Ekologi
Epidemics
Female
Herd
Herd immunity
Humanities and Social Sciences
Immunity
Infectious diseases
Male
multidisciplinary
Nesting
Pasteurella Infections
Pasteurella multocida
Public health
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Waterborne diseases
Wildlife
Zoonotic Ecology
Zoonotisk ekologi
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Summary:Avian cholera, caused by the bacterium Pasteurella multocida , is a common and important infectious disease of wild birds in North America. Between 2005 and 2012, avian cholera caused annual mortality of widely varying magnitudes in Northern common eiders ( Somateria mollissima borealis ) breeding at the largest colony in the Canadian Arctic, Mitivik Island, Nunavut. Although herd immunity, in which a large proportion of the population acquires immunity to the disease, has been suggested to play a role in epidemic fadeout, immunological studies exploring this hypothesis have been missing. We investigated the role of three potential drivers of fadeout of avian cholera in eiders, including immunity, prevalence of infection, and colony size. Each potential driver was examined in relation to the annual real-time reproductive number (R t ) of P. multocida , previously calculated for eiders at Mitivik Island. Each year, colony size was estimated and eiders were closely monitored, and evaluated for infection and serological status. We demonstrate that acquired immunity approximated using antibody titers to P. multocida in both sexes was likely a key driver for the epidemic fadeout. This study exemplifies the importance of herd immunity in influencing the dynamics and fadeout of epidemics in a wildlife population.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-020-79888-6