Some passerine and columbiform species are considered nuisance on livestock farms including poultry, and can carry pathogenic viruses and bacteria. Newcastle Disease (ND) due to pathogenic strains of aPMV-1 is a worldwide distributed viral disease that causes serious economic losses in poultry. High biosecurity and vaccination are preventive measures in industrial poultry production. These measures are not applied in gamebird farms where contact between wild and farmed birds is frequent. To study the risk of aPMV-1 transmission by sympatric species to farmed red-legged partridges in central Spain, we used a commercial competition ELISA kit to detect antibodies against aPMV-1 in sera from wild birds (n=177), including rock pigeon (Columba livia), wood pigeon (Columba palumbus), eurasian collared dove (Streptopelia decaocto), eurasian magpie (Pica pica) and song thrush (Turdus philomelos). To test for NDV exposure and the effect of aggregation on farms and release estates on NDV transmission we additionally tested sera from farm-raised partridges (n=385), partridges harvested in hunting estates where partridges are released regularly (n=73) and from partridges hunted or captured in “release-free” hunting estates (n=93). High prevalence was found in sympatric birds, especially in rock pigeons (64.5 %, n= 30) and passerine birds (56.2 %, n= 73). Seroprevalence in farmed partridges (14.85%) and estates with releases (21,9 %) were significantly higher (Χ2 test, p<0,05) than in partridges from “release-free” states (4,3 %). Exposure to sympatric wild NDV carriers and aggregation due to intensive farming may be important risk factors for NDV outbreaks, thus enhanced biosecurity is recommended.

Resumen del póster presentado a la 10th European Vertebrate Pest Management Conference, celebrada en Sevilla (España) del 21 al 25 de septiembre de 2015.

Peer Reviewed