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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Zoological Medicine
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1483922

A comprehensive epidemiological approach documenting an outbreak of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus clade 2.3.4.4b among gulls, terns, and harbor seals in the Northeastern Pacific

Provisionally accepted
Katherine H. Haman Katherine H. Haman 1*Scott F. Pearson Scott F. Pearson 1Justin Brown Justin Brown 2*Lauren A. Frisbie Lauren A. Frisbie 3*Sara Penhallegon Sara Penhallegon 4*Azeza M. Falghoush Azeza M. Falghoush 5*Rebecca M. Wolking Rebecca M. Wolking 5*Brandi K. Torrevillas Brandi K. Torrevillas 5*Kyle R. Taylor Kyle R. Taylor 5,6*Kevin R. Snekvik Kevin R. Snekvik 5,6*Sarah A. Tanedo Sarah A. Tanedo 1*Ilai N. Keren Ilai N. Keren 1*Lizzy Ashley Lizzy Ashley 7Casey T. Clark Casey T. Clark 1*Dyanna M. Lambourn Dyanna M. Lambourn 1Chrissy Eckstrand Chrissy Eckstrand 5,6Steven E. Edmonds Steven E. Edmonds 5,6*Emma R. Rovani-Rhoades Emma R. Rovani-Rhoades 5,6*Hanna Oltean Hanna Oltean 3*Kristin Wilkinson Kristin Wilkinson 8*Deborah Fauquier Deborah Fauquier 9*Allison Black Allison Black 3*Thomas B. Waltzek Thomas B. Waltzek 5,6*
  • 1 Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia, United States
  • 2 Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, College of Agricultural Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States
  • 3 Washington State Department of Health, Shoreline, United States
  • 4 Center Valley Animal Rescue, Quilcene, Washington, United States, Quilcene, United States
  • 5 Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Pullman, Washington, United States, Pullman, United States
  • 6 Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, United States
  • 7 EpiCenter for Disease Dynamics, One Health Institute, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, United States
  • 8 West Coast Regional Office, National Marine Fisheries Service, Seattle, United States
  • 9 Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service, Silver Spring, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The authors sincerely thank the Editor and reviewers for a thorough and helpful review! We appreciate your time and efforts in reviewing our manuscript, and your review and suggested changes have improved our manuscript significantly. Thank you! Please see below for responses to all comments and our associated changes to the manuscript, figures, and supplemental materials. Again, thank you very much for your reviews! Independent Review Report, Reviewer 1 This report details an outbreak of HPAI throughout a tern colony and across species, following the outbreak in great detail and in near real time. It provides rare and valuable insight into an HPAI outbreak as it unfolds, within a larger ecological context than it is generally feasible to capture. This report helps to highlight the different pathology and disease dynamics of even closely related species (gulls and terns) and underscores the need to do more of these sorts of detailed analyses. The authors also report on the avian to mammalian spillover of birds to seals and provide additional insights toward understanding this important and still poorly understood transmission pathway. Appropriate methodology was used to conduct these studies and perform analyses, and the data interpretation is well supported and reasoned. Both the importance and the inherent limitations of the study are well conveyed within the text and discussion. The topic matter and data presented should be of interest to a wide range of readers.-Thank you for these comments!

    Keywords: Gull, Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI H5N1), H5N1 2.3.4.4b, marine mammals, harbor seal, tern

    Received: 20 Aug 2024; Accepted: 09 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Haman, Pearson, Brown, Frisbie, Penhallegon, Falghoush, Wolking, Torrevillas, Taylor, Snekvik, Tanedo, Keren, Ashley, Clark, Lambourn, Eckstrand, Edmonds, Rovani-Rhoades, Oltean, Wilkinson, Fauquier, Black and Waltzek. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Katherine H. Haman, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia, United States
    Justin Brown, Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, College of Agricultural Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 16802, Pennsylvania, United States
    Lauren A. Frisbie, Washington State Department of Health, Shoreline, United States
    Sara Penhallegon, Center Valley Animal Rescue, Quilcene, Washington, United States, Quilcene, United States
    Azeza M. Falghoush, Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Pullman, Washington, United States, Pullman, United States
    Rebecca M. Wolking, Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Pullman, Washington, United States, Pullman, United States
    Brandi K. Torrevillas, Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Pullman, Washington, United States, Pullman, United States
    Kyle R. Taylor, Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Pullman, Washington, United States, Pullman, United States
    Kevin R. Snekvik, Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Pullman, Washington, United States, Pullman, United States
    Sarah A. Tanedo, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia, United States
    Ilai N. Keren, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia, United States
    Casey T. Clark, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia, United States
    Steven E. Edmonds, Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Pullman, Washington, United States, Pullman, United States
    Emma R. Rovani-Rhoades, Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Pullman, Washington, United States, Pullman, United States
    Hanna Oltean, Washington State Department of Health, Shoreline, United States
    Kristin Wilkinson, West Coast Regional Office, National Marine Fisheries Service, Seattle, United States
    Deborah Fauquier, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service, Silver Spring, United States
    Allison Black, Washington State Department of Health, Shoreline, United States
    Thomas B. Waltzek, Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Pullman, Washington, United States, Pullman, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.