Circulation of influenza viruses and paramyxoviruses in waterfowl originating from two different areas of North America.

Migratory waterfowl and shore birds harbour a wide range of influenza viruses, some of which have been implicated in influenza outbreaks in mammals and domestic birds. In the present study, a comparison was made of two marshalling areas for different migratory flyways of waterfowl in North America over a 6-8-year period. Virtually all known influenza subtypes were isolated and the predominant subtype changed from year to year. A marked difference between the two locations was that the predominant subtypes circulating were never the same, even though in both areas, most virus isolations were made from the same duck species (mallard duck). Isolations of paramyxovirus were characterized mainly as avian PMV-1.Viruses isolated from ducks included those antigenically related to viruses causing disease in birds and mammals, although the viruses did not necessarily appear in ducks immediately before they appeared in other species. For example, H5N2 isolates antigenically related to the virus causing severe disease outbreaks in chickens in the USA in 1983, were detected in ducks from both areas at different times (1976, 1980 and 1982). These studies indicate that ducks in different areas represent a continual source of orthomyxoviruses and paramyxoviruses of potential disease significance to other species.