Rabid Kitten Found On Staten Island
WCBSTV.com (Posted by Topix.net)
04 August 2006
A stray kitten found in the Huguenot area of Staten Island has tested positive for rabies. A New York City Health Department spokeswoman says the kitten was found near Ida Court and North Railroad Street in Staten Island. One person was bitten by the kitten and several others either fed or had direct contact with this kitten. They're currently being treated to prevent rabies.
There hasn't been a case of human rabies in New York City for more than 50 years. The health department is trying to identify anyone else who may have had contact with this black and white, tiger striped, five-month-old, stray kitten. Anyone has has is urged to seek medical care and call 311 to notify health officials.
The health department says rabid animal activity is on the rise on Staten Island. Since April, seven rabid raccoons and two rabid cats have been identified. New Yorkers should avoid contact with stray cats and dogs or other potentially rabid animals such as raccoons, skunks, or possums. They should also make sure that their pets' rabies vaccinations are up to date.
Four Corners Cat has Plague
The Associated Press (Posted by KOBTV.com)
07 August 2006
A cat in San Juan County has tested positive for plague and the state Department of Health says its the first indication of plague activity in the northwest New Mexico area. Plague had been reported earlier in Bernalillo, San Miguel, Santa Fe and Torrance counties.
There have been six cases of plague in humans in New Mexico this year, and two of those people died. The bacterial disease generally is transmitted through the bites of infected fleas, but people also can get it by direct contact with infected rodents, wildlife and pets.
Wildlife Office Investigates Doves Deaths
Daily News Online
07 August 2006
Taupye residents say they are baffled by the deaths of doves in their area. Dozens of doves have been found dead and some continue to die near the village which is about 10 km from Mahalapye. Kgosi Mogaetsho Dipao of Taupye, who informed this office about the deaths, said residents now fear for their health.
We are very shocked by the situation as we do not know the cause of death, he said. What is surprising is that only doves are dying but other wild birds are not affected. This is the first time that we have seen such a situation in our village and it is disheartening to see so many birds die without knowing the cause of it.
Kgosi Dipao said the bird have been dying for weeks but authorities had not taken any action. I do not know why people have been keeping quiet about this, he added. I have been told that this has been happening since July 13. This could be a very dangerous situation as there are some reports of bird flu in neighbouring South Africa.
Pike Disease Receives Attention
Burlington Free Press (Posted by burlingtonfreepress.com)
07 August 2006
Matt Crawford
Biologists for the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department have been fishing under the cover of darkness in recent weeks. Their target: northern pike -- sickly northern pike, to be exact. Fisheries biologists have been plying the waters of northern Lake Champlain on recent nights electrofishing for pike, sampling the population of the toothy predators to check the number of fish showing symptoms of a disease called Esocid lymphosarcoma.
The affliction has been documented in North American pike and muskie for more than a hundred years and was first detected in Lake Champlain in December of 2002. "We haven't detected it in any species other than northern pike," said Tom Jones, a fish health specialist with Fish and Wildlife. Jones and other department employees sampled Missisquoi Bay, Kelly Bay and Keeler Bay in recent nights looking for fish that obviously had the disease.
The disease manifests itself in lesions that usually appear as reddish-purple blisters. Fin lesions -- often the pelvic fin is affected -- appear as a greatly thickened irregular mass that can cover the fin. The disease is probably not fatal to pike, Jones said, but muskies -- a close cousin to pike -- appear to be more susceptible to dying from the disease. In Missisquoi Bay, 23 adult pike were caught and four of those showed indications of lymphosarcoma. In Kelly Bay, another 23 fish were caught and three fish showed signs of the disease, said Jones.
Cats Infected with Bird Flu in Iraq - Report
Reuters AlertNet
07 August 2006
Cats that died during an outbreak of bird flu in Iraq last February were infected with the H5N1 virus, U.S. naval medical researchers reported. Any cat that becomes ill or dies when suspected bird flu is circulating should be tested for the virus, the Navy team reported in the August issue of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. The team at the Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3 or NAMRU-3, based in Cairo, have been studying bird flu viruses taken from animals and people in the region.
The H5N1 avian influenza virus spread out of eastern Asia and into Europe and the Middle East late in 2005. It has been found in 48 countries since it re-emerged in 2003, mostly in birds. It can infect other animals as well as humans, and has so far killed at least 134 people in 9 countries. Experts are afraid it may evolve just enough to pass easily from person to person, sparking a pandemic that could kill millions.
Samuel Yingst, Magdi Saad and Stephen Felt of NAMRU-3 had been hearing stories from veterinarians in Turkey and Iraq who said cats had died where bird flu outbreaks were being reported in January. But they could not get any samples from the cats. "After H5N1 influenza was diagnosed in a person in Sarcapcarn, Kurdish northern Iraq, the government of Iraq requested a World Health Organization investigation, which was supported in part by Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3 veterinarians," they wrote in their report.
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