Massive Avian Flu Tests Begin in Isles
The Honolulu Advertiser
18 Sep 2006
Will Hoover
Photo courtesy of Bruce Asato
Two otherwise docile ducks briefly squirmed, quacked and flapped webbed feet in protest as they endured the indignity of being tested for a dangerous bird flu at the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge yesterday.
The tests at the 260-acre refuge near Kahuku launched an ambitious and unprecedented national inter-agency effort by wildlife management and agricultural health communities to capture and test some 3,500 wild migratory birds in the Pacific between now and next April.
"This is the largest effort ever for surveillance of a wildlife disease in North American history," said Kenneth Foote, information and education specialist for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in Honolulu and the event coordinator. He was careful to point out that the program is an early detection effort, and not a cause for alarm.
Ducks Died Natural Deaths: Bird Botulism the Cause - Canada Geese Still Draw Ire of Local Veterinarian
The Express-Times
18 Sep 2006
Meghan Smith
A state wildlife official says naturally occurring toxins likely contributed to the deaths of more than a dozen ducks that made a home at a borough pond. About a month ago, Borough Manager Charlie Luthar said, police and public works officials were called to a pond near the Wagner Grist Mill on Walnut Street after numerous ducks were found dead.
The borough sent the duck carcasses for testing to determine what could have caused the deaths, he said. Last week the borough learned the ducks died of a form of botulism, Luthar said.
Pennsylvania Game Commission spokesman Jerry Feaser confirmed the fowl fell victim to avian botulism, a disease he said that is not uncommon among birds, especially during the summer months. "It's caused by bacteria that's widespread in soil," he said of the disease. The affliction, deadly for ducks, does not affect humans.
New Strategy to Screen Wild Birds for Deadly H5N1 Avian Flu24dash.com
18 Sep 2006
Ian Morgan
An updated and revised strategy to screen wild birds for the presence of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza was announced today. The strategy has been developed by Defra in partnership with the devolved administrations.
Defra's targeted surveillance strategy will involve sampling for the disease in areas which have higher numbers of migrating waterfowl and larger poultry populations.
The programme, being introduced in time for the autumn migration of water birds from more northerly latitudes, will have three main elements:
* Testing of live birds (which are then released);
* Testing shot birds (shot as part of normal legal wild fowling activities); and
* Testing certain species of dead wild birds found in designated areas.
West Texas Deer Deaths to Be Checked
Star-Telegram.com
15 Sep 2006
Jack Douglas Jr.
Animal disease experts are scheduled to go to West Texas next week to investigate an unusual number of deaths of white-tailed deer, all found dead or dying near stock tanks or other water sources.
The deaths — which come as hunters prepare for deer season — are believed to be caused by an ailment related to bluetongue disease, known clinically as epizootic hemorrhagic disease, which cannot be passed to humans, according to animal scientists and the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife.
Officials said there is no immediate cause for public health concern. But they said they have not ruled out anthrax, which can be transmitted to people, as a cause for the deaths in a six-county area south of San Angelo.
County Sees First Rabies Case in Three Years
The Daily Anthenaeum, West Virginia University
18 Sep 2006
Heather Bonecutter
Recently, a dead bat tested positive for rabies after it was found near a cat that had reportedly been bitten. The confirmation was received by the Monongalia County Health Department Sept. 9 from the Office of Laboratory Services in Charleston.
"This is the first positive rabies case in three years in the county," said Shelly Martin, public health educator for the health department. Last winter's mild weather led to an increase in the bat population, said Mike Gray, a wildlife animal damage control agent and owner-operator of the ABC Human Animal Control.
Rabies is a common disease in bats and may be considered endemic by experts. "With rabies, in order for something to contract it, it has to come in contact with saliva, brain tissue or spinal fluid," Gray said.
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