Molecular Detection of <i>Avipoxvirus</i> in Wild Birds in Central Italy
2022
Fabrizio Bertelloni | Renato Ceccherelli | Margherita Marzoni | Alessandro Poli | Valentina Virginia Ebani
<i>Avipoxviruses</i> (APVs) are important pathogens of both domestic and wild birds. The associated disease is characterized by skin proliferative lesions in the cutaneous form or by lesions of the first digestive and respiratory tracts in the diphtheritic form. Previous studies investigated these infections in symptomatic wild birds worldwide, including Italy, but data about the circulation of APVs in healthy avian wildlife are not available. The present study tested spleen samples from 300 wild birds without typical lesions to detect <i>Avipoxvirus</i> DNA. Overall, 43.33% of the samples scored positive. Aquatic birds were more frequently infected (55.42%) than other animals (26.40%), and in <i>Anseriformes,</i> high positivity was found (52.87%). The obtained results suggest that wild birds could be asymptomatic carriers of <i>Avipoxviruses</i>, opening new possible epidemiological scenarios.
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