Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia.
Geelong Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases, Geelong, VIC, Australia.
Commun Biol. 2024 Sep 17;7(1):1017. doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-06652-1.
Infectious diseases can drive populations and species to extinction. Beak and feather disease virus (BFDV) is a circovirus of global conservation concern that can infect all Psittaciformes and some other species. Yet some parrot species, such as Crimson rosellas (Platycercus elegans), can live successfully with high BFDV prevalence (>40%) with no clinical signs reported in infected individuals. We assessed BFDV load in 10-12 tissues per bird, from n = 66 P. elegans, to reveal tissue tropism and BFDV persistence in tissues. Here we show that in 94% of individuals, BFDV was detected in one or more tissues. While BFDV replicated to high levels in subadults, in adults (some confirmed seropositive) the virus persisted in various tissues at much lower levels. Our findings reveal that BFDV is much more common in wild P. elegans than previously thought and suggest that current screening practices (mostly on blood) may substantially underestimate BFDV infection estimates, with implications for biosecurity and conservation programs globally.
传染病可能导致种群和物种灭绝。喙羽病病毒（BFDV）是一种具有全球保护意义的圆环病毒，可感染所有凤头鹦鹉科和其他一些物种。然而，一些鹦鹉物种，如红腹玫瑰鹦鹉（Platycercus elegans），可以成功地在高 BFDV 流行率（>40%）下生活，而感染个体没有报告临床症状。我们评估了来自 66 只 P. elegans 的每只鸟 10-12 种组织中的 BFDV 载量，以揭示组织嗜性和 BFDV 在组织中的持续存在。在这里，我们发现 94%的个体在一种或多种组织中检测到 BFDV。虽然 BFDV 在亚成体中复制到很高的水平，但在成年个体（一些已确认血清阳性）中，病毒在各种组织中以低得多的水平持续存在。我们的研究结果表明，BFDV 在野生 P. elegans 中比以前认为的更为常见，并表明当前的筛选方法（主要是血液）可能大大低估了 BFDV 感染的估计，这对全球的生物安全和保护计划都有影响。
