Rabies Reports on the Rise
BerkshireEagle.com
2006/06/04
Shawnee A. Barnes
A rise in rabies reports in wild animals in Berkshire County has some local and state officials concerned: Between April and May of this year, eight confirmed cases have been reported.
Mike Cahill, rabies program coordinator for the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, said there were 13 reports in the county for the entire year last year, and that number has remained steady since the late 1990s.
The reports of rabidlike animal sightings have been keeping local animal control officers busy.
"I'm considering it rabies unless proven otherwise," said Dale Duryea, a private animal control agent based in Great Barrington.
He said he is alarmed at the number of calls he has been receiving each week.
The Salt Lake Tribune
2006/06/03
Justin Hill
The West Nile virus is here.
The potentially deadly virus has been detected in a magpie found in West Valley City earlier this week, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) and the Salt Lake Valley Health Department announced on Friday.
It is the first detection of the virus in Utah this year, the agencies said in a news release.
"It lets us know that it's in the area and that people should take extra precautions," said Leslie McFarlane, wildlife disease specialist with the DWR.
People may get the virus by being bitten by an infected mosquito. It can result in serious disease or death.
U.S., International Scientists Study Disease in Wild Birds: Collaborative Projects Beginning in China, Mexico [Press Release]
USINFO.STATE.GOV
2006/06/02
Charlene Porter
Washington – U.S. and Chinese wildlife scientists are headed to remote Qinghai Lake in western China in early June to conduct a joint project on the presence of a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus in barheaded geese.An outbreak of the deadly H5N1 virus in these migratory birds on that lake in 2005 served as one of the first clues underlying the theory that the seasonal movements of birds might carry the pathogen on intercontinental journeys.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture joins the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Zoology in the project, according to Dr. Tom DeLiberto, APHIS’ national wildlife disease coordinator, who is overseeing the research.
A wildlife veterinarian, DeLiberto told the Washington File that the researchers will be working to answer a number of questions surrounding the discovery of more than 500 dead wild birds at Qinghai Lake in 2005.
“[Is] that virus endemic in that ecosystem?” he said. “If so, where is it reservoired, what species is it in, and is it still an active virus in that ecosystem?”
No comments:
Post a Comment