HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by O’Brien, V. A. Articles by Brown, C. R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by O’Brien, V. A. Articles by Brown, C. R.

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, University of Tulsa, 800 South Tucker Drive, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104, USA
² US Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center, 6006 Schroeder Road, Madison, Wisconsin 53711, USA
³ Corresponding author (email: valerie-obrien{at}utulsa.edu)

ABSTRACT:   Alphaviruses (Togaviridae) infect wild birds, but clinical illness and death attributable to virus in naturally infected birds is rarely reported, particularly for small passerine species or nestlings. Buggy Creek virus is a unique alphavirus in the Western equine encephalomyelitis virus (WEEV) complex that is vectored by the cimicid swallow bug (Oeciacus vicarius), an ectoparasite of the colonially nesting Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) and the introduced House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). While sampling birds for Buggy Creek virus (BCRV) during the summers of 2007 and 2008, we discovered large numbers of clinically ill or dead House Sparrow nestlings. Ill nestlings exhibited ataxia, torticollis, paresis, and lethargy. Histologic examination revealed that encephalitis was the most common finding, followed by myositis, myocarditis, and hepatic changes, but pathology was highly variable. We isolated BCRV from brain tissue in most of the ill or dead nestlings, and from blood, liver, kidney, spleen, lung, feather pulp, and skin in some birds. To our knowledge, this is the first report of clinical illness, gross pathology, and histopathology for a WEEV-complex alphavirus in a field-collected passerine species.
  Key words:  Alphavirus, Buggy Creek virus, clinical pathology, House Sparrow, Passer domesticus, viral encephalitis, virus ecology.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				V. A. O'Brien, A. T. Moore, G. R. Young, N. Komar, W. K. Reisen, and C. R. Brown An enzootic vector-borne virus is amplified at epizootic levels by an invasive avian host Proc R Soc B, August 4, 2010; (2010) rspb.2010.1098v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				V. A. O'Brien, C. U. Meteyer, W. K. Reisen, H. S. Ip, and C. R. Brown Prevalence and Pathology of West Nile Virus in Naturally Infected House Sparrows, Western Nebraska, 2008 Am J Trop Med Hyg, May 1, 2010; 82(5): 937 - 944. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]