Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a zoonotic pathogen transmitted by Culex mosquitoes that often causes fatal inflammation of the brain in humans, particularly among children. It is endemic in numerous Asian countries, but India experiences the highest incidence and fatalities from the virus.
In this study, researchers sought to identify wildlife targets to develop JEV surveillance among waterbirds, particularly in the Ardeidae family (herons and egrets), known as potential JEV reservoirs.
Using GBIF-mediated occurrences of 48 Indian waterbirds, the authors derived species landscape suitability from an ensemble of three distribution modelling algorithms. They then estimated total waterbird richness and analysed its association with confirmed cases of JEV outbreaks.
Twenty-one species showed positive correlations with the distribution of JEV outbreaks. The authors discovered associations among species in each of the investigated families, but Ardeidae family richness alone was associated with outbreaks, reaffirming the importance of Ardeidae in JEV maintenance.
Notably, however, the relationship between ardeid richness and JEV outbreaks was non-linear, with risk increasing at zero to four species, peaking around five, and then decreasing sharply. As such, areas with the highest ardeid richness generally had a reduced risk of outbreak, suggesting another potential benefit of habitat conservation for public health.