Passive West Nile Virus Antibody Transfer from Maternal Eastern Screech-Owls (Megascops asio) to Progeny

• Published in: Avian diseases Vol. 50; no. 3; pp. 454 - 455
• Main Authors: Hahn, D. C, Nemeth, Nicole M, Edwards, Eric, Bright, Patricia R, Komar, Nicholas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Association of Avian Pathologists, Inc 01-09-2006
• Subjects: Animals; Antibodies; Antibodies, Viral - blood; antibody detection; bird; Bird Diseases - immunology; Bird Diseases - virology; Birds; Birds of prey; Chicks; Eastern Screech-Owl; epidemiological studies; Female; Flavivirus; Immunity, Maternally-Acquired; Infections; Male; maternal antibody; maternal immunity; Megascops asio; Owls; passive immunity; passive transfer; progeny; protective effect; Research Note; Research Notes; Saint Louis encephalitis virus; seroconversion; serodiagnosis; Strigiformes; Strigiformes - immunology; viral diseases of animals and humans; Viruses; West Nile Fever - immunology; West Nile Fever - veterinary; West Nile virus; West Nile virus - immunology; wild birds; young animals; North America
• ISSN: 0005-2086; 1938-4351
• DOI: 10.1637/7509-012606R1.1

Transovarial antibody transfer in owls has not been demonstrated for West Nile virus (WNV). We sampled chicks from captive adult WNV-antibody-positive Eastern Screech-Owls (Megascops asio) to evaluate the prevalence of transovarial maternal antibody transfer, as well as titers and duration of maternal antibodies. Twenty-four owlets aged 1 to 27 days old circulated detectable antibodies with neutralizing antibody titers ranging from 20 to 1600 (median 1:40). Demonstrating that WNV antibodies are passively transferred transovarially is important for accurate interpretation of serologic data from young birds.