Infectious Disease Research in Birds Seen Through the Lens of Metagenomics
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Birds".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2025) | Viewed by 979
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Infectious diseases in birds encompass complex interplay between diverse pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites, with host factors that may determine the clinical outcome and ecological consequences. Free-roaming avifauna can serve as reservoirs of diverse pathogens, many of which pose significant biosecurity threats to immunologically naïve avian populations in captivity, to endangered wildlife, poultry, and livestock, and even to human health, owing to potential spillover events. Advances in DNA sequencing technology have equipped us with a plethora of metagenomic toolkits, which have enabled the exploration and surveillance of a vast variety of pathogens in avian hosts without prior information or bias. These advancements have augmented novel pathogen discovery at a much faster pace, have enabled clinical disease and outbreak investigations with greater ease, have allowed the examination of host–pathogen interactions in specialized ecological niches, and so on. Furthermore, a targeted metagenomic approach holds significant implications in disease surveillance and mitigating the risk of emerging infections including zoonoses.
This Special Issue aims to showcase contemporary research in the field of avian infectious diseases, stimulating further innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration in this rapidly evolving field. We welcome research articles and short communications in any relevant field discussed above.
Dr. Shubhagata Das
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- metagenomics
- pathogen discovery
- diagnostics
- genomic diversity
- evolution
- spillover
- wild birds
- poultry
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