TY - JOUR AU - Mansilla, Ana AU - Grande, Juan AU - Diaz, Adrián T1 - Effect of Agroecosystems on Seroprevalence of St. Louis Encephalitis and West Nile Viruses in Birds, La Pampa, Argentina, 2017–2019 T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2022 VL - 28 IS - 7 SP - 1393 SN - 1080-6059 AB - In Argentina, the Pampa ecoregion has been almost completely transformed into agroecosystems. To evaluate the environmental (agricultural area, tree coverage, distance to the nearest water body and urban site) and biological (dove, cowbird, and sparrow abundance) effects on free-ranging bird exposure to St. Louis encephalitis virus (SLEV) and West Nile virus (WNV), we used generalized linear mixed models. For 1,019 birds sampled during 2017–2019, neutralizing antibodies were found against SLEV in samples from 60 (5.8%) birds and against WNV for 21 (2.1%). The best variable for explaining SLEV seroprevalence was agricultural area, which had a positive effect; however, for WNV, no model was conclusive. Our results suggest that agroecosystems in the La Pampa ecoregion increase the exposure of avian hosts to SLEV, thus potentially increasing virus activity. KW - St. Louis encephalitis virus KW - West Nile virus KW - seroprevalence KW - avian hosts KW - land use KW - anthropogenic changes KW - agroecosystems KW - La Pampa KW - Argentina KW - viruses KW - vector-borne infections DO - 10.3201/eid2807.211485 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/28/7/21-1485_article ER - End of Reference