What is it about?
We collected fresh bird droppings from remote, mostly uninhabited islands in ten low-income countries and found that a surprising variety of bird-flu viruses—especially the H5N1 strain, including versions that may resist the drug oseltamivir—are quietly circulating where nobody is looking. By showing that these overlooked “stepping-stone” sites along major migration routes are hot-spots for new and potentially dangerous flu variants, our study makes the case for simple, low-cost wildlife surveillance in the Global South so the world can spot and stop new outbreaks sooner.
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Photo by Mangai Sundaram on Unsplash
Why is it important?
At a moment when highly pathogenic H5N1 is racing around the globe, our study delivers the first systematic look at avian-influenza diversity from 52 remote, mostly uninhabited islands in ten low- and middle-income countries—places conventional monitoring has never reached, furnishing some of the earliest virus data ever reported for nations such as Sri Lanka, Somalia and the Maldives. By analysing 27 000 fresh bird-guano samples collected between 2021 and 2023, we uncovered a wide range of subtypes, including clade 2.3.4.4b H5N1 viruses that closely match the strain now infecting North-American dairy cattle and, worryingly, carry the H275Y mutation that can blunt the front-line antiviral oseltamivir. This unique combination of unprecedented geographic coverage and real-time relevance shows that overlooked “stepping-stone” stopovers in the Global South are active engines of viral evolution today, underscoring the urgency—and practicality—of community-powered wildlife surveillance to catch the next dangerous variant before it spreads.
Perspectives
This study flips the usual script on avian-influenza surveillance: by mobilising citizen scientists to collect more than 27 000 bird-guano samples from 52 remote, often uninhabited islands along major migratory flyways in ten low- and middle-income countries, it uncovers a rich mix of virus subtypes where no formal monitoring exists. Strikingly, some H5N1 isolates already carry the oseltamivir-resistance H275Y mutation, signalling that antiviral-evading variants are evolving far from the laboratories that usually sound the alarm. Together, these findings argue that the ecological “stepping-stones” of the Global South are not fringe outposts but pivotal early-warning nodes—and that future pandemic preparedness will hinge on empowering local observers at these front-line sites as much as on high-tech sequencing hubs.
Assoc. Prof. Charin Modchang
Mahidol University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Surveillance of avian influenza through bird guano in remote regions of the global south to uncover transmission dynamics, Nature Communications, May 2025, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59322-z.
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