Skip to main content
PMC home page
Emerging Infectious Diseases logoLink to Emerging Infectious Diseases
. 2001 Jul-Aug;7(4):621–625. doi: 10.3201/eid0704.010403

Serologic evidence for West Nile virus infection in birds in the New York City vicinity during an outbreak in 1999.

N Komar 1, N A Panella 1, J E Burns 1, S W Dusza 1, T M Mascarenhas 1, T O Talbot 1
PMCID: PMC2631743  PMID: 11585522

Abstract

As part of an investigation of an encephalitis outbreak in New York City, we sampled 430 birds, representing 18 species in four orders, during September 13-23, 1999, in Queens and surrounding counties. Overall, 33% were positive for West Nile (WN) virus-neutralizing antibodies, and 0.5% were positive for St. Louis encephalitis virus-neutralizing antibodies. By county, Queens had the most seropositive birds for WN virus (50%); species with the greatest seropositivity for WN virus (sample sizes were at least six) were Domestic Goose, Domestic Chicken, House Sparrow, Canada Goose, and Rock Dove. One sampled bird, a captive adult Domestic Goose, showed signs of illness; WN virus infection was confirmed. Our results support the concept that chickens and House Sparrows are good arbovirus sentinels. This study also implicates the House Sparrow as an important vertebrate reservoir host.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (70.6 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Anderson J. F., Andreadis T. G., Vossbrinck C. R., Tirrell S., Wakem E. M., French R. A., Garmendia A. E., Van Kruiningen H. J. Isolation of West Nile virus from mosquitoes, crows, and a Cooper's hawk in Connecticut. Science. 1999 Dec 17;286(5448):2331–2333. doi: 10.1126/science.286.5448.2331. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Eidson M., Komar N., Sorhage F., Nelson R., Talbot T., Mostashari F., McLean R., West Nile Virus Avian Mortality Surveillance Group Crow deaths as a sentinel surveillance system for West Nile virus in the northeastern United States, 1999. Emerg Infect Dis. 2001 Jul-Aug;7(4):615–620. doi: 10.3201/eid0704.010402. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Komar N. West Nile viral encephalitis. Rev Sci Tech. 2000 Apr;19(1):166–176. doi: 10.20506/rst.19.1.1201. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Lanciotti R. S., Roehrig J. T., Deubel V., Smith J., Parker M., Steele K., Crise B., Volpe K. E., Crabtree M. B., Scherret J. H. Origin of the West Nile virus responsible for an outbreak of encephalitis in the northeastern United States. Science. 1999 Dec 17;286(5448):2333–2337. doi: 10.1126/science.286.5448.2333. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Langevin S. A., Bunning M., Davis B., Komar N. Experimental infection of chickens as candidate sentinels for West Nile virus. Emerg Infect Dis. 2001 Jul-Aug;7(4):726–729. doi: 10.3201/eid0704.010422. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Nash D., Mostashari F., Fine A., Miller J., O'Leary D., Murray K., Huang A., Rosenberg A., Greenberg A., Sherman M. The outbreak of West Nile virus infection in the New York City area in 1999. N Engl J Med. 2001 Jun 14;344(24):1807–1814. doi: 10.1056/NEJM200106143442401. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Savage H. M., Ceianu C., Nicolescu G., Karabatsos N., Lanciotti R., Vladimirescu A., Laiv L., Ungureanu A., Romanca C., Tsai T. F. Entomologic and avian investigations of an epidemic of West Nile fever in Romania in 1996, with serologic and molecular characterization of a virus isolate from mosquitoes. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1999 Oct;61(4):600–611. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.1999.61.600. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Senne D. A., Pedersen J. C., Hutto D. L., Taylor W. D., Schmitt B. J., Panigrahy B. Pathogenicity of West Nile virus in chickens. Avian Dis. 2000 Jul-Sep;44(3):642–649. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Steele K. E., Linn M. J., Schoepp R. J., Komar N., Geisbert T. W., Manduca R. M., Calle P. P., Raphael B. L., Clippinger T. L., Larsen T. Pathology of fatal West Nile virus infections in native and exotic birds during the 1999 outbreak in New York City, New York. Vet Pathol. 2000 May;37(3):208–224. doi: 10.1354/vp.37-3-208. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Swayne D. E., Beck J. R., Smith C. S., Shieh W. J., Zaki S. R. Fatal encephalitis and myocarditis in young domestic geese (Anser anser domesticus) caused by West Nile virus. Emerg Infect Dis. 2001 Jul-Aug;7(4):751–753. doi: 10.3201/eid0704.010429. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Turell M. J., O'Guinn M., Oliver J. Potential for New York mosquitoes to transmit West Nile virus. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2000 Mar;62(3):413–414. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.2000.62.413. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Emerging Infectious Diseases are provided here courtesy of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

RESOURCES