Program in Population Biology, Ecology and Evolution, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2022 Dec 26;108(2):366-376. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.21-1086. Print 2023 Feb 1.
West Nile virus (WNV) is prevalent in the United States but shows considerable variation in transmission intensity. The purpose of this study was to compare patterns of WNV seroprevalence in avian communities sampled in Atlanta, Georgia and Chicago, Illinois during a 12-year period (Atlanta 2010-2016; Chicago 2005-2012) to reveal regional patterns of zoonotic activity of WNV. WNV antibodies were measured in wild bird sera using ELISA and serum neutralization methods, and seroprevalence among species, year, and location of sampling within each city were compared using binomial-distributed generalized linear mixed-effects models. Seroprevalence was highest in year-round and summer-resident species compared with migrants regardless of region; species explained more variance in seroprevalence within each city. Northern cardinals were the species most likely to test positive for WNV in each city, whereas all other species, on average, tested positive for WNV in proportion to their sample size. Despite similar patterns of seroprevalence among species, overall seroprevalence was higher in Atlanta (13.7%) than in Chicago (5%). Location and year of sampling had minor effects, with location explaining more variation in Atlanta and year explaining more variation in Chicago. Our findings highlight the nature and magnitude of regional differences in WNV urban ecology.
西尼罗河病毒（WNV）在美国流行，但传播强度存在相当大的差异。本研究的目的是比较在佐治亚州亚特兰大市和伊利诺伊州芝加哥市采样的鸟类群落中 WNV 血清阳性率的模式，以揭示 WNV 人畜共患病活动的区域模式。使用 ELISA 和血清中和方法测量野生鸟类血清中的 WNV 抗体，使用二项分布广义线性混合效应模型比较每个城市中物种、年份和采样地点的血清阳性率。与候鸟相比，无论在哪个地区，常年居留和夏季居留的物种的血清阳性率都最高；物种在每个城市内解释了更多的血清阳性率差异。红雀在每个城市中最有可能对 WNV 检测呈阳性，而其他所有物种的平均阳性率与其样本量成比例。尽管物种的血清阳性率模式相似，但亚特兰大的总体血清阳性率（13.7%）高于芝加哥（5%）。采样地点和年份的影响较小，采样地点在亚特兰大解释了更多的变异，年份在芝加哥解释了更多的变异。我们的研究结果突出了 WNV 城市生态的性质和程度的区域差异。
