Scientists in Nigeria say they’re studying the Usutu virus, originally found in South Africa, to better understand how viruses carried by migratory birds might one day affect humans in a world of changing climate impacts.
“There hasn’t been much study done of Usutu, so we’re trying to cover the gap,” said Nnomzie Atama, a veterinarian from the A.P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute based in Jos East.
Atama’s work is presented in a Science magazine piece by Jon Cohen, published Wednesday, that explains how climate-related changes in bird migration could affect both bird and human health due to new types of virus exposure.
Among them is the Usutu, which is closely related to the West Nile virus; Usutu is spread by both the same mosquitoes and the same type of birds. It was first identified in blackbirds in the Netherlands in 2016. By 2020, the first case in humans had appeared there.
Atama and other scientists study trapped birds, dead birds, and bird feathers to collect data on Usutu and what it might mean for West Nile and other viruses in the future.
“You might also get the introduction of more exotic arboviruses like dengue,” says Bas Oude Munnink, a molecular virologist at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam. “We potentially can try to slow down, or perhaps even stop, the spread” of some of the more deadly viruses by better understanding Usutu.
To read Cohen’s entire piece on climate, bird migration and health risks, check this link.
