Avian vacuolar myelinopathy (AVM) is a fatal neurological disease that affects various waterbirds and raptors. It is most common in the bald eagle and American coot, and it is known in the killdeer, bufflehead, northern shoveler, American wigeon, Canada goose, great horned owl, mallard, and ring-necked duck. Avian vacuolar myelinopathy is a newly discovered disease that was first identified in the field in 1994 when dead bald eagles were found near DeGray Lake in Arkansas in the United States. Since then, it has spread to four more states and infested multiple aquatic systems including 10 reservoirs. The cause of death is lesions on the brain and spinal cord, but the exact causative agent is still being investigated by researchers. An infectious cyanobacterium is suspected.
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Clinical signs
Clinical signs have been recorded from research studies where individual birds were intentionally infected with the disease and from wild specimens and dead birds recovered from the field. Clinical signs listed are also those observed in American coots.
Most of the bald eagles have been found deceased from October to March, while the death count peaks during mid-November through December. The waterfowl migrate to the area in October and November, where they consume the bacteria off of plants and become infected.
Causative agent proposal
Researchers currently believe that the probable cause of the disease is a strain of epiphytic cyanobacteria of the order Stigonematales. This particular bacterium grows very well on aquatic plants, particularly on the invasive species hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata), covering 20-90% of the leaf surface. These invasive hydrilla plants often take over any aquatic system to which they are introduced. Waterfowl then consume the hydrilla, ingesting the cyanobacteria. Some raptors, like bald eagles, prey upon the waterfowl and contract identical clinical symptoms from consuming infected tissues. The bacterium causes widespread bilaterally symmetrical vacuolation of the white matter of the brain and spinal cord of infected birds, which cause lesions.
Research highlights
Birrenkott et al. (2004) attempted a study in 2004 to determine linkage between the invasive aquatic plant Hydrilla verticillata and the outbreak of AVM among waterfowl after it was observed that only lakes containing excess amounts of hydrilla harbored infected birds. In this study, adult mallards and northern bobwhites were divided by species into multiple sections to observe the effects of hydrilla when it was ingested by the birds, and also by physical contact or drinking of water containing hydrilla. The results of this study found that drinking water or physical contact with hydrilla or areas in which it was present had no noticeable effect on test birds. However when fed a diet of over 50% hydrilla, the birds developed AVM. Wilde et al. (2005) performed a study to determine the cause of AVM by conducting food trials in areas affected by AVM. Disease-free mallards were fed cyanobacteria from hydrilla and observed daily. Birds that developed symptoms were captured and euthanized. By the conclusion of the study, 15 of the 20 study mallards had been recovered, and all had AVM.