Perception of infection: disease-related social cues influence immunity in songbirds

While avoidance of sick conspecifics is common among animals, little is known about how detecting diseased conspecifics influences an organism's physiological state, despite its implications for disease transmission dynamics. The avian pathogen Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) causes obvious visual signs of infection in domestic canaries (Serinus canaria domestica), including lethargy and conjunctivitis, making this system a useful tool for investigating how the perception of cues from sick individuals shapes immunity in healthy individuals. We tested whether disease-related social information can stimulate immune responses in canaries housed in visual contact with either healthy or MG-infected conspecifics. We found higher complement activity and higher heterophil counts in healthy birds viewing MG-infected individuals around 6-12 days post-inoculation, which corresponded with the greatest degree of disease pathology in infected stimulus birds. However, we did not detect the effects of disease-related social cues on the expression of two proinflammatory cytokines in the blood. These data indicate that social cues of infection can alter immune responses in healthy individuals and suggest that public information about the disease can shape how individuals respond to infection.