Forum on Avian Reservoirs of Human Pathogens

Sponsored by
The Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies'
Center for EcoEpidemiology

Friday, April 21, 2006

Yale School of Medicine
Harkness Auditorium
333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT

The threat from animal pathogens transmissible to humans is at an unprecedented increase worldwide. In the US, epidemics of Lyme disease, West Nile virus, and now the potential for pandemic avian influenza have revealed critical weaknesses in our knowledge of how these diseases emerge, spread, and are maintained in nature. Microbial pathogens transmitted from birds to humans, either directly or through intermediate vectors (ticks and mosquitoes), are of particular concern because birds are ubiquitous, locally abundant, and can move pathogens over long distances quickly. The involvement of birds in public health threats to humans poses significant management dilemmas for wildlife biologists and human disease epidemiologists that are infrequently addressed together.

The objective of this interdisciplinary forum is to provide an opportunity for cross-fertilization among the disciplines of microbiology, ornithology, entomology, epidemiology, and conservation biology in order to identify needs for advancing efforts to understand and mitigate disease risk caused by microbial pathogens humans share with avian wildlife.

Nine presentations are planned for this one day event. Each presentation will be followed by a question and discussion period with audience participation. Admission to the Forum is free and open to the Yale community and the public.

This forum is sponsored by the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies Center for EcoEpidemiology and is part of a series of interdisciplinary forums intended to bridge the intellectual gap between the natural and medical sciences in order to address critical common issues. A Forum on Climate and Disease was held in December 2005 and a Forum on Biodiversity and Human Health is planned for next fall.

TALKS

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Morning Session 8:30 am to 12:00 pm

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
Derek Briggs, Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies

KEYNOTE ADDRESS:
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION OF INFLUENZA A VIRUSES
Robert Webster, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

AVIAN RESERVOIRS OF WEST NILE VIRUS
Nicholas Komar, CDC Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases

AVIAN ZOONOSES IN EUROPE
Bjorn Olsen, Kalmar University, Sweden

BIRDS AND LYME DISEASE
Durland Fish, Yale School of Medicine

Afternoon Session 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm

AVIAN HOSTS OF MOSQUITO VECTORS
Theodore Andreadis, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station

AVIAN SENTINELS FOR ARBOVIRUSES
Jonathan Day, Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory

MONITORING BIRD POPULATIONS
John S. Sauer, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

MIGRATORY CONNECTIVITY AND MOVEMENT OF AVIAN DISEASE
Peter Marra, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center

AVIAN INFLUENZA AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION:
BENEFITS OF A “ONE HEALTH” APPROACH
William Karesh, Wildlife Conservation Society

CLOSING REMARKS
James E. Childs, Yale School of Medicine

Forum Poster