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. 2022 Nov 2;25(12):105470.
doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105470. eCollection 2022 Dec 22.

A single fungal strain was the unexpected cause of a mass aspergillosis outbreak in the world's largest and only flightless parrot

David J Winter  1   2 , Bevan S Weir  3 , Travis Glare  4 , Johanna Rhodes  5 , John Perrott  6 , Matthew C Fisher  5 , Jason E Stajich  7 ; Kākāpō Aspergillosis Research Consortium; Andrew Digby  8 , Peter K Dearden  2   9 , Murray P Cox  1   2
Affiliations

A single fungal strain was the unexpected cause of a mass aspergillosis outbreak in the world's largest and only flightless parrot

David J Winter et al. iScience. .

Abstract

Kākāpō are a critically endangered species of parrots restricted to a few islands off the coast of New Zealand. Kākāpō are very closely monitored, especially during nesting seasons. In 2019, during a highly successful nesting season, an outbreak of aspergillosis affected 21 individuals and led to the deaths of 9, leaving a population of only 211 kākāpō. In monitoring this outbreak, cultures of aspergillus were grown, and genome sequenced. These sequences demonstrate that, very unusually for an aspergillus outbreak, a single strain of aspergillus caused the outbreak. This strain was found on two islands, but only one had an outbreak of aspergillosis; indicating that the strain was necessary, but not sufficient, to cause disease. Our analysis provides an understanding of the 2019 outbreak and provides potential ways to manage such events in the future.

Keywords: Animals; Microbiology; Microbiology parasite; Parasitology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Figure 1
Figure 1
A single low-diversity A. fumigatus lineage was responsible for the aspergillosis outbreak (A) Timeline of sampling relating to the 2019 outbreak. Each point represents a sample, filled circles represent samples from which A. fumigatus could be cultured. (B) Map indicating the locations of A. fumigatus isolates in New Zealand. (C) Principal component analysis of SNP data including all New Zealand isolates. Environmental isolates are represented by squares, bird-derived isolates by circles. All isolates taken from birds during the outbreak occupy the same position in this figure so are represented by a single point.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Genetic data cannot differentiate environmental from bird-derived isolates Hierarchical clustering was used to compare isolates from the outbreak strain. The scale bar represents the total number of SNP differences between given stains. The shaded boxes represent metadata associated with each isolate, specifically the source of each isolate and the island from which each isolate was recovered.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The outbreak strain is not closely related to other sequenced strains (A) The outbreak strain is included in a global phylogeny of A. fumigatus. Outbreak strains are shaded green and noted by a star. Isolates from other countries are shaded following the figure legend. (B) A subtree extracted from A, with tips shaded to reflect the source of each isolate (with human clinical isolates in red and environmental isolates in blue). The outbreak strain is most closely related to human clinical strains, but part of a wide clade that includes many environmental isolates.
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