Subject: Birds and Viruses
Date: Apr 14 21:53:47 1998
From: "Jon. Anderson and Marty Chaney" - festuca at olywa.net


Hi folks,

Saw this one on the Seabird-L list, and thought it might be pertinent to those of us who
actually handle the little feathered gems...

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 20:08:10 +0200
From: "Dr. David Duffy" <afdcd1 at UAA.ALASKA.EDU>
Subject: [SEABIRD:746]

from David Duffy
Alaska Natural Heritage Program
University of Alaska
afdcd1 at uaa.alaska.edu

For an important paper on a serious group of viruses (Hepatitis E, Norwalk)
that affect marine mammals, seabirds, and HUMANS, please check:

Calicivirus Emergence from Ocean Reservoirs: Zoonotic and
Interspecies Movements, Alvin W. Smith, Douglas E. Skilling, Neil Cherry,
Jay H. Mead, and David O. Matson. Emerging Infectious Diseases 4 (1) 1998.
at:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol4no1/smith.htm


Caliciviral infections in humans, among the most common causes of
viral-induced vomiting and diarrhea, are caused by the Norwalk group of small
round structured viruses, the Sapporo caliciviruses, and the hepatitis E agent.

Human caliciviruses have been resistant to in vitro cultivation, and direct study of
their origins and reservoirs outside infected humans or water and foods (such as
shellfish contaminated with human sewage) has been difficult. Modes of transmission,
other than direct fecal-oral routes, are not well understood. In contrast, animal viruses
found in ocean reservoirs, which make up a second calicivirus group, can be cultivated
in vitro. These viruses can emerge and infect terrestrial hosts, including humans.

This article reviews the history of animal caliciviruses, their eventual recognition as
zoonotic agents, and their potential usefulness as a predictive model for noncultivatable
human and other animal caliciviruses (e.g., those seen in association with rabbit
hemorrhagic disease).
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