New measures to tackle bovine TB in Wales announced
Farmers Weekly Interactive
25 July 2006
Photo courtesty of Farmers Weekly Interactive
New measures to tackle bovine TB in Wales, which were announced at the Royal Welsh Show, were welcomed by farming unions.
Evan Thomas, the farmers Union of Wales’s spokesman on the disease, said he was heartened by rural affairs minister Carwyn Jones’s decision to consider establishing a wildlife intensive treatment area, once data from badgers found dead and population surveys was evaluated when it became available in the autumn.
“This is the first time any minister has said he is prepared to accept the possibility of culling badgers in a wildlife ITA,” Mr Thomas said.
“The package as a whole suggests that, at last, politicians appear to be listening to farmers on the TB Action Group, and are starting to get a real grip on this serious enzootic disease.”
The minister admitted that many farmers would be disappointed that he was not announcing an immediate badger cull but, while one had not be ruled out, he would not act until he had all the scientific evidence.
West Nile Confirmed in Local Birds: Risk of Human Infection is Low, Say Health Officials
Kenora Daily Miner (Posted by Miner & News)
25 July 2006
Two dead crows from the Kenora area have tested positive for the West Nile Virus, bringing the region’s total to 14. Guelph’s Canadian Co-Operative Wildlife Health Centre advised the Northwestern Health Unit July 20 of the results, the first positive cases of the virus from birds in the immediate Kenora area.
Positive cases had been found earlier this year in the Atikokan, Fort Frances, Crozier, Dryden and Red Lake areas. The only infected birds found in the region last year were in the Fort Frances area. West Nile is not transferred directly between birds and humans. Mosquitoes become infected by biting an infected bird, typically a crow, raven or blue jay. Mosquitoes can then pass on the virus by biting humans, though such a transmission is rare.
Al Mathers, an environmental health officer with the Northwestern Health Unit, said the tests are becoming redundant at this point in the summer. “Really it’s not that useful a tool anymore for surveillance. We know the virus is active in the area, that it is part of the environment,” said Mathers, who added that the likelihood of contracting West Nile is “extremely low.”
Study of Songbirds Finds High Levels of MercuryThe New York Times (Author Anthony DePalma)
25 July 2006
Photo courtesty of Tony Cenicola at The New York Times
A biologist studying wild songbirds in New York State has found that all 178 woodland birds he tested last year had unusually high levels of mercury in their blood and feathers, a sign that the toxic chemical has spread farther in the environment than previously thought.
The biologist, David C. Evers, who is also executive director of the Biodiversity Research Institute, a nonprofit ecological organization in Gorham, Me., said that his preliminary findings challenged existing perceptions about how far mercury travels, how it interacts with the environment and how it affects various forms of wildlife — all with worrisome implications for people.
While mercury has often been found in lakes and streams and in fish, Dr. Evers’s work documents the unexpected presence of the chemical in birds that do not live on water and never eat fish.
“Impacts on biological diversity usually show impacts on human health,” Dr. Evers said in a telephone interview. “If these birds are having trouble, that should be a very good indicator of a risk to our own well-being and health as well.”
EEE cases Prompt Warnings about Repellent
Gloucester Daily Times (Posted by WeatherfordDemocraT.com)
24 July 2006
Danielle Clark and Julie Kirkwood
Both Massachusetts and New Hampshire found their first cases of mosquitoes with the deadly eastern equine encephalitis last week, which is prompting many to think about bug spray. And they should.
Pediatricians and government health agencies are urging parents to put bug spray on their children, especially when they go outside at dawn and dusk, and to do whatever else they can to prevent mosquito bites.
“EEE is very rare but can be fatal, so we want to stress prevention,” said Donna Rheaume, spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. “One of the ways is to use repellent. ... Can you avoid every mosquito bite? No, but you can certainly reduce the number of bites you get, and that can reduce your risk for West Nile (virus) and eastern equine encephalitis.”
State health officials said the first bird of the 116 tested since May 15 has tested positive for West Nile virus. The virus was found in a crow in Saugus. West Nile virus can be passed to humans through mosquito bites as well.
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