Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Piedmont South Atlantic Coast CESU

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The USGS is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research to assess the infectivity of influenza A viruses (IAVs) across seasons in North American wetlands under ecologically relevant conditions. The maintenance of infectious IAVs in North American wetlands may influence the indirect transmission of viruses among wild birds and subsequent dispersal through space and time. It is unknown if IAVs remain infectious in North American wetlands for extended periods, seeding outbreaks in wild birds across seasons or in free-ranging poultry after migratory birds have departed from wintering areas. As such, research to understand the persistence of infectious IAVs in the environment has been identified as a priority for improving epidemiological models of transmission. The CESU partner will conduct a series of related field and lab experiments to test if IAVs shed by wild birds can be detected, cultured, and transmitted to live captive birds following an extended period (e.g., several months) under both laboratory-controlled and field conditions at ecologically relevant doses. Furthermore, seek to understand how environmental factors, such as water chemistry and temperature, relate virus persistence.

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