Avian diversity and West Nile virus: testing associations between biodiversity and infectious disease risk.

ABSTRACT: The emergence of several high profile infectious diseases in recent years has focused attention on our need to understand the ecological factors contributing to the spread of infectious diseases. West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-borne zoonotic disease that was first detected in the United States in 1999. The factors accounting for variation in the prevalence of WNV are poorly understood, but recentideas suggesting links between high biodiversity and reduced vector-borne disease risk may help account for distribution patterns of this disease. Since wild birds are the primary reservoir hosts for WNV, we tested associations between passerine (Passeriform) bird diversity, non-passerine (all other orders) bird diversity and virus infection rates in mosquitoes and humans to examine the extent

SUBMITTER: Ezenwa VO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1560012 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature