International team of Russian and Italian scientists evaluates the persistence of avian influenza viruses in natural and anthropized ecosystems of Western Siberia

The study, carried out by Russian and Italian research institutes, was published in a recent issue (27 June / 2014) of PLoS ONE. The research aims to increase the understanding of the dynamics of movement of avian influenza viruses (AIVS) in the Novosibirsk region, connected through avian migratory routes to some outbreaks of H5N1 highly pathogenic (HP), which occurred in Asia during the studied period, investigating the potential exchange of AIVs between wild and domestic birds. The latter, raised in rural areas close to wetlands and under relatively unsecure conditions, are indeed a model of sentinel for the identification of the environmental persistence of AIVs in the interface  wildlife/domestic fauna.