Marion Co. Bird Positive for West Nile Wild birds typically found to host WNV include crow, raven, starling, blue jay, magpie, blackbird and hawk, according to the National Wildlife Health Center.
The Baxter Bulletin online
28 June 2006
Joanne Bratton
YELLVILLE — A third bird found in Marion County tested positive for West Nile Virus this month, increasing the state's total infected birds to 11. Earlier this month, two crows found in Marion County near the Boone County line tested positive for WNV, said Marion County Sanitarian Adam Dennis.
As of Tuesday, Dennis had not been alerted to the third bird that had tested positive for the virus, he said. WNV testing results are updated by the U.S. Geological Survey every Tuesday, a national organization that receives data from state health departments and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
No birds in Baxter County have tested positive, according to USGS. Since the Arkansas State Health Department began testing birds in April, 11 infected birds have been found in Boone, Faulkner, Franklin, Madison, Marion, Pope, Pulaski and Sebastian counties, according to USGS. Nationally, 112 birds have tested positive for WNV.
New Deer Hunt Rule in Sights
The Capital Times
28 June 2006
Anita Weier
Photo courtsey of The Capital Times
Deer increased last year in the core chronic wasting disease area in south-central Wisconsin, despite the state DNR's efforts to thin the herd to contain the disease. So the Department of Natural Resources plans to try a new strategy.In a new rule considered by a state Senate committee Tuesday, the agency proposed a shorter gun deer hunting season in the CWD zones, as well as allowing hunters to shoot as many deer as they like, of either gender, instead of having to "earn a buck" by shooting a doe.
Hunters wanted a shorter season and simpler rules, and the DNR is consequently "trying to re-create the excitement" that a shorter season brings, explained Alan Crossley, CWD project manager for the DNR.
"And people didn't like earn-a-buck. We were reluctant, but we will give it a try this year," Crossley told the Natural Resources Committee. "You can shoot as many deer as you want in the herd reduction and disease eradication zones."
First Avian Flu Deaths from Wild Birds
The Age
27 June 2006
David Adam and James Meikle
FOUR people have died after catching bird flu from swans. The deaths, just revealed by German scientists, happened earlier this year. They were the first confirmed cases of avian flu being passed from wild birds.
The victims, from a village in Azerbaijan, are believed to have caught the lethal H5N1 virus when they plucked dead swans to sell the feathers for pillows. Three other people infected by the swans have survived.
Andreas Gilsdorf, an epidemiologist at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, who led the team that made the discovery, said: "As far as we know this is the first transmission from a wild bird, but it was a very intensive contact. We know that the virus is carried by swans and we know that you can catch the virus if you have close contact, so it doesn't change anything, it's just the first time it has been reported."
Watching for Avian Flu
The ChronicleHerald.ca
28 June 2006
John Gills
Surveillance program launched as wintering birds return
There’s a good chance that wild birds that wintered in Europe will introduce the Asian bird flu to Canada, but Nova Scotians have little to fear from the virus, health and natural resources experts said Monday.
Various forms of influenza constantly circulate in the bird population, often without making the birds sick, Dr. Robin Phillips, an Agriculture Department veterinarian, said at the announcement of this year’s avian influenza surveillance program.
But more aggressive forms of the virus, like one labelled H5N1, can wipe out flocks and infect humans. Late last year that strain, which has circulated in Asia for a few years, began to spread into Europe, where some North American birds spend the winter.
"High pathogenic strains may hitch a ride . . . on the backs of wild birds coming in," Dr. Phillips said. When the droppings from infected wild birds end up in ponds used by poultry and commercial flocks, the virus can spread rapidly.
Dead Prairie Dogs Test Positive for Plague
GreeleyTribune
24 June 2006
Four prairie dogs found dead on the Pawnee National Grasslands northeast of Greeley have tested positive for plague, according to the Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment.
To date, there have been 43 positive cases of plague in animals documented in Colorado. No human cases have been reported in 2006 in Colorado.
"Plague is most commonly found in the prairie dog populations in the grassland areas of Weld County. People need to take precautions from being bitten by fleas when walking out in the grasslands," said Sara Evans, Environmental Health Manager at the Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment.
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