Brittany Harnicher

Prof. Jack Later

Biology 1615: Tuesdays 10:00 am
ummary of !rticle
How Does Roosting Affect the Spread of West Nile Virus?
Study of the transmission of West Nile Virus through the roosting behavior of birds. Two populations were
examined: Crows and Cardinals. Mihael Ward! "rlo #aim! Sarah $aremyh%&amer! #ihard 'ampman!
and #obert Nova(! )**+.
Introduction: "est #ile $irus is a disease that is s%read through the feeding of mos&uitos. The most
common 'ector of "#$ is the mos&uito from the Culex s%ecies. The (ay that this disease is s%read
through nature is that an infected mos&uito may )ite a )ird* transmitting the disease to that )ird* and
(hen the )ird tra'els to a ne( area they ha'e the %otential of )ringing that disease along (ith them. +f
the infected )ird gets )itten )y a mos&uito* then the mos&uito (ill get affected and has the %otential of
s%reading that disease further )y )iting a human or an animal. +n humans* "est #ile $irus can sho( no
sym%toms and in some cases* the most that (ill ha%%en is a fe'er. ,nly 1- of human cases lead to
death.
1
The reason (hy roosting )eha'ior is im%ortant* )ecause (hen )irds roost communally* they
%roduce more car)on dio.ide* attracting more mos&uitoes. +n this study* !merican cro(s and northern
cardinals (ere studied. Ho(e'er* cro(s are more com%etent hosts for the 'irus than cardinals* )ecause
cardinals contain a high amount of anti)odies for the disease. The scientists also assumed that a
decrease in the cro( %o%ulation (ill result in a change in the transmission of the 'irus and they also
tracked the mo'ement and roosting )eha'ior of infected )irds.
Reason for Study: + read the article of a study* /0oes the 1oosting Beha'ior of Birds !ffect the
Transmission 0ynamics of "est #ile $irus23 The scientists* 4ichael "ard* !rlo 1aim* arah
5aremych6Hamer* 1ichard Lam%man* and 1o)ert #o'ak conducted this e.%eriment trying to
determine (hether a decrease in the cro( %o%ulation (ould affect the s%read of "#$ as (ell as
(hether or not their rosting )eha'ior affected it as (ell. These scientists %redicted that if there (ere to
1 7"est #ile $irus.7 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 8enters for 0isease 8ontrol and Pre'ention* 11 June
901:. "e). 1; June 901:. <htt%:==(((.cdc.go'=(estnile=inde..html>.
)e a decrease* mostly due to infected cro(s dying* then the areas affected )y "#$ (ould )e in a more
focused %oint* rather than o'er larger areas* mainly )ecause of the different roosting )eha'ior )et(een
cro(s and other )ird %o%ulations* such as cardinals.
Materials and Methods: The study took %lace in 9009* 900;* and 900: in 8ham%aign county* +llinois.
They )egan (ith ca%turing the cro(s (ith tra%s and %lacing a leg6)and on them as (ell as a radio
transmitter. They (ere tracked almost e'ery day during their roosting times* (hich descri)es the areas
(here the )ird is located )et(een 11:00 %m to ::00 am* and their location (as determined )y a glo)al
%ositioning system* or a ?P. "hen a cro( died* there determined that they tracked the )eha'ior fi'e
days %rior to the death and dead cro(s (ere sent to a la) to find out the cause of death. #orthern
8ardinals (ere also studied in the same area from July to e%tem)er in the year 9005. These )irds (ere
tra%%ed and tagged* @ust like the cro(s (ere.
cientists utiliAed other sources that determined the ty%e of )ird %o%ulations in areas (ith high
"#$ acti'ity. They used the s%ring )ird count BB8C data (hich %ro'ided information %ertaining to
the )reeding ha)its of the cro( and cardinal %o%ulations. The B8 also gi'es a good idea of (hat )irds
may )e found in (hat locations at any %articular time. They also used the route6regression techni&ue*
(hich hel%ed to find a'erage %o%ulation trends of the t(o se%arate %o%ulations of )irds in a certain
county and com%ared it to all other counties. "ith the hel% of these sources* they tracked the %o%ulation
trends of the )irds a year )efore the arri'al of "#$ and four years after the arri'al.
Results: They studied a total of ;1 cro(s* in (hich they had 90 cro(s die of "#$* (hereas none of
the t(el'e cardinals they studied died of infection. 8ro(s also roost in %o%ulations* (hile cardinals
either roost (ith themsel'es or near their mate. They also determined that the a'erage length that a
cro( mo'ed (as significantly higher than that of a cardinal. 1oosting )eha'ior (as different )et(een
infected cro(s and healthy onesD infected cro(s roosting )eha'ior decreased (ithin the fi'e days
)efore itEs death* es%ecially on the day it died. +n contrast* infected cardinals and healthy ones
e.%erienced the same roosting )eha'ior. The scientists also noticed that the %o%ulation of cro(s
decreased in the state of +llinois )y 11.5- each year from 9001 to 9005* (here as the %o%ulation
increased )efore "est #ile $irus had )een introduced to the area. ,n the other hand* the cardinal
%o%ulation had stayed sta)le according to the B8.
Discussion: The scientist inter%reted this data in their discussion* (hich ans(ered their &uestion of
(hether the roosting )eha'ior )et(een the t(o )ird %o%ulations had any effect on the transmission of
the disease. They also (anted to find out if acti'ity of "#$ (ould )ecome more focused in certain
areas than o'er a larger area (ith the decrease in cro( %o%ulations. They determined that cro(s are
ideal for the s%read of the disease )ecause they roost communally and at se'eral locations* as (ell as
(ith other )ird %o%ulations. They also found out through their study* that infected cro(s used more
roost than healthy cro(s did. They determined that sick cro(s used the same roost as did the healthy
ones* until a)out a day or t(o )efore their death. They determined that cardinals tra'el in far less
distance than cro(s and that they roost )y themsel'es rather than in a grou%* (hich means that* unlike
cro(s* there is a far less %ossi)ility of )ird6to6)ird transmission.
They determined that areas (hich e.hi)ited the highest amount of death amongst cro(s due to
"#$ could %redict that area to )e of high risk for humans to come in contact (ith the disease. They
can %redict that (ith the decrease in the cro( %o%ulation* the num)er of human cases of "est #ile
$irus (ould also decrease. Ho(e'er* they seen an increase in 8ook 8ounty* +llinois* e'en though the
cro( %o%ulation had )een decreasing. The scientists )elie'e that cro(s could %ossi)ly %lay @ust the role
of dis%ersing the disease to ne( areas* (hich (ould make the "#$ acti'ity more focal* like they
%redicted. +n other (ords* cro(s might affect the s%read )ut not the am%lification of the 'irus. The
scientists mentioned that there should )e additional research to )e %ositi'e (hether or not the decrease
in a cro( %o%ulation (ould ha'e anything to do (ith the rate of the disease s%reading. They also
mentioned the need to study other )ird %o%ulations to determine (hether or not the 'irus could ha'e the
same effect on them as it did the cro( %o%ulation.
1esources
7"est #ile $irus.7 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 8enters for 0isease 8ontrol and
Pre'ention* 11 June 901:. "e). 1; June 901:. <htt%:==(((.cdc.go'=(estnile=inde..html>.
"ard* 4ichael P.* !rlo 1aim* arah 5aremych6Hamer* 1ichard Lam%man* and 1o)ert J. #o'ak.
70,F THF 1,,T+#? BFH!$+,1 ,G B+10 !GGF8T T1!#4++,# 05#!4+8 ,G
"FT #+LF $+1H27 Am J Trop Med Hyg I5.9 B9006C: ;50655. Http://www.atm!.org. The
!merican ociety of Tro%ical 4edicine and Hygiene. "e). 15 June 901:.
<htt%:==(((.a@tmh.org=content=I5=9=;50.full.%dfJhtml>