The article describes the effects of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), which is transferred through bird species, such as ducks. As a result of mutations, avian influenza viruses sharply change their biological properties and acquire the ability to overcome the host barrier with direct infection of people bypassing the intermediate host. In addition, they can cause extremely severe clinical forms of the disease, a significant portion of which is fatal.
This movement may also affect humans because the virus may not be species-specific. This determines the need for greater surveillance and control of the infection. The Avian Influenza virus spreads unusually quickly, and this process may not be controlled by traditional methods, such as isolation of patients, quarantine measures, and recommendations for traveling people.
The study analyzes the movement patterns of live ducks, which plays a major role in epidemic prevention approaches. It is stated that developing correct models of the proximity networks of animal movement behaviors can allow epidemiologists to precisely predict the danger zones and the sources of infection (Guinat et al., 2020). The live-duck movements were the main cause of the H5N8 influenza outbreak, which took place in France during 2016 and 2017 (Guinat et al., 2020). Currently, there is no sufficient data on the movement of these birds during the epidemic control.
However, the researchers used a permutation-based approach in identifying the overall contribution of duck relocations. Only the given avian species were studied due to the fact that among all affected species, ducks represented 81.6% (Guinat et al., 2020). The spatial distribution diagrams in the study show that southwest regions were predominantly the most high-risk areas due to a number of live-duck trade communities.
Thus, such sophisticated models can allow experts to take preliminary actions to prevent potential outbreaks. The given novel viruses arise by a number of different mechanisms. These include viral DNA or RNA mutations by physical mutagens, such as x-rays or UV light. In addition, there are natural base changes and errors produced by replicating enzymes (Murray, Rosenthal, & Pfaller, 2015). Environment-specific mutagenic factors directly influence the alteration rate in the areas. Therefore, the mutations lead to the emergence of new virus strains with more pathogenic characteristics.
References
Guinat, C., Durand, B., Vergne, T., Corre, T., Rautureau, S., Scoizec, A….Paul, M. C. (2020). Role of live-duck movement networks in transmission of avian influenza, France, 2016-2017. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 26(3), 472-480.
Murray, P., Rosenthal, K., & Pfaller, M. (2015). Medical microbiology (8th ed.). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier.