PPMV1
| Pigeon paramyxovirus type 1 | |
|---|---|
Virus classification 
| |
| (unranked): | Virus |
| Realm: | Riboviria |
| Kingdom: | Orthornavirae |
| Phylum: | Negarnaviricota |
| Class: | Monjiviricetes |
| Order: | Mononegavirales |
| Family: | Paramyxoviridae |
| Genus: | Avulavirus |
| Species: | |
| Virus: | Pigeon paramyxovirus type 1
|
PPMV1 or pigeon paramyxovirus type 1 is a virus closely related to Newcastle disease which affects domestic pigeons and other bird species. It probably originated in the Middle East but has spread to Europe, the USA and Australia, where it has the potential to infect and kill native bird species.[1]
In Australia
Pigeon paramyxovirus was first detected in Victoria in 2011, in NSW in 2012 and in Tasmania in 2013.[2] It is now considered endemic in Australia.[3]
Impact
Potential ecological impacts include the transmission of a frequently fatal disease in many bird species worldwide, not just pigeons. Overseas it has infected raptors, pheasants, swans and cockatoos. In Australia, the virus has predominantly infected introduced pigeons but one native species has been diagnosed with the disease - a collared sparrowhawk which presumably ate a diseased introduced pigeon. With introduced pigeons so widely distributed, scientists are concerned about the further spread to native birds in Australia and nearby Papua New Guinea, which together house the world’s most diverse native pigeon and dove fauna - a quarter of the world’s total.[4]
Biosecurity
Experts are concerned that there has been a lack of national contingency planning to prevent the entry and spread of Pigeon paramyxovirus in Australia. Although a vaccine to prevent the spread of the virus exists - and is utilised overseas, Australian authorities have reportedly not accessed this vaccine quickly enough.[5]
Evolution
The variant PPMV-1 virus is thought to have originated in the Middle East in the late 1970s, with the putative first isolation being made from meat pigeons in Iraq in 1978. The virus then spread to Italy and North Africa, onwards across Europe and progressively throughout the rest of the world.[6]
There were clusters of isolates often formed from viruses isolated over a number of different years. The basis for this clustering is unclear; it could be a product of regional contact and spread within individual groups or federations of pigeon keepers. Every effort has been made to ensure that the selection of viruses included in this study is representative of the circulating PPMV-1 strains; however, because available data are derived from those cases that are reported and investigated, it seems inevitable that some sampling bias may be present and influence the phylogenetic tree topology.[6]
References
- ^ Peters A (13 July 2017). "Are Australia's native pigeons sitting ducks?". Phys.org. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
- ^ "Avian Paramyxovirus in Pigeons (APMV1)". Biosecurity Tasmania. 2014. Archived from the original on 2017-04-18. Retrieved 2017-08-30.
- ^ Cowan ML, Monks DJ, Raidal SR (May 2014). "Granuloma formation and suspected neuropathic pain in a domestic pigeon (Columba livia) secondary to an oil-based, inactivated Newcastle disease vaccine administered for protection against pigeon paramyxovirus-1". Australian Veterinary Journal. 92 (5): 171–6. doi:10.1111/avj.12173. PMID 24766048.
- ^ Aldous EW, Fuller CM, Mynn JK, Alexander DJ (April 2004). "A molecular epidemiological investigation of isolates of the variant avian paramyxovirus type 1 virus (PPMV-1) responsible for the 1978 to present panzootic in pigeons". Avian Pathology. 33 (2): 258–69. doi:10.1080/0307945042000195768. PMID 15276997. S2CID 19079469.
- ^ "Pigeon Paramyxovirus" (PDF). Invasive Species Council of Australia. 2014. Retrieved 2017-08-30.
- ^ a b Aldous EW, Fuller CM, Ridgeon JH, Irvine RM, Alexander DJ, Brown IH (April 2014). "The evolution of pigeon paramyxovirus type 1 (PPMV-1) in Great Britain: a molecular epidemiological study". Transboundary and Emerging Diseases. 61 (2): 134–9. doi:10.1111/tbed.12006. PMID 22966870.