禽痘是一种常见的禽类病毒,其皮肤形式可在鸟类的皮肤表面引起特征性病变。从历史上看,在自由放养的鸟类中检测禽痘依赖于视觉病变和/或组织病理学的观察,两者都可以低估水痘的患病率。我们比较了传统的视觉观察方法与利用微创样本的分子方法(血液,趾甲修剪,羽毛,和皮肤拭子)在生态上重要的鸟类群体中,蜂鸟.具体来说,使用三种不同的方法在多个位置检查了几种蜂鸟中的水痘患病率:(1)从长期条带数据集中目视检查蜂鸟的水痘样病变,(2)来自野生动物康复中心的蜂鸟尸体样品的qPCR分析,和(3)来自活捕获的蜂鸟的样品的qPCR测定。确定了这三种方法之间的流行率存在明显差异,从条带数据来看,禽痘患病率为1.5%,20.4%来自蜂鸟尸体,32.5%来自加州的活捕获蜂鸟。这种检出率的差异强调了分子方法来调查禽痘的必要性,这项研究建立了一种可以应用于其他野生鸟类的方法。在所有三种方法中,安娜的蜂鸟藏有明显更高的水痘患病率比其他物种检查,男性与女性相比,在南加州捕获的鸟类与北加州相比也是如此。在加利福尼亚条带数据集和car体数据集中,孵化年后的蜂鸟的禽痘患病率也高于孵化年蜂鸟。这是第一项评估蜂鸟中禽痘的流行率并解决这种蜂鸟特有的禽痘病毒株的生态学的研究,提供重要信息,为未来对这一具有魅力和生态重要性的鸟类群体的研究提供信息。
Avian pox is a common avian virus that in its cutaneous form can cause characteristic lesions on a bird\'s dermal surfaces. Detection of avian pox in free-ranging birds historically relied on observations of visual lesions and/or histopathology, both which can underestimate avian pox prevalence. We compared traditional visual observation methods for avian pox with molecular methods that utilize minimally invasive samples (blood, toenail clipping, feathers, and dermal swabs) in an ecologically important group of birds, hummingbirds. Specifically, avian pox prevalence in several species of hummingbirds were examined across multiple locations using three different methods: (1) visual inspection of hummingbirds for pox-like lesions from a long-term banding data set, (2) qPCR assay of samples from hummingbird carcasses from wildlife rehabilitation centers, and (3) qPCR assay of samples from live-caught hummingbirds. A stark difference in prevalences among these three methods was identified, with an avian pox prevalence of 1.5% from banding data, 20.4% from hummingbird carcasses, and 32.5% from live-caught hummingbirds in California. This difference in detection rates underlines the necessity of a molecular method to survey for avian pox, and this study establishes one such method that could be applied to other wild bird species. Across all three methods, Anna\'s hummingbirds harbored significantly higher avian pox prevalence than other species examined, as did males compared with females and birds caught in Southern California compared with Northern California. After hatch-year hummingbirds also harbored higher avian pox prevalences than hatch-year hummingbirds in the California banding data set and the carcass data set. This is the first study to estimate the prevalence of avian pox in hummingbirds and address the ecology of this hummingbird-specific strain of avian pox virus, providing vital information to inform future studies on this charismatic and ecologically important group of birds.