Georgia Birds Tested for Avian Flu
Savannah Morning News
06 Oct 2006
Mary Landers
The red knot, a type of sandpiper, flies to Georgia each winter after breeding in the upper Arctic. It's that summer trip, and the company the gray and white bird keeps in Canada, that make it a prime candidate for a new study in which researchers from the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division are testing migratory shorebirds for bird flu.
"There is a potential that they could cross paths with migrant species from Alaska or Iceland, so it is important that we monitor for the presence of highly pathogenic avian flu," said Brad Winn, program manager for the WRD Coastal Nongame Program.
In the first round of sampling on the Altamaha delta between Sapelo and Sea islands late last month, Winn and colleagues launched netting over roosting flocks and caught 14 birds, including seven red knots. The other birds were black-bellied plovers, ruddy turnstones and sanderlings. Researchers test for avian flu by taking a fecal sample from each bird. The birds are released unharmed.
New Clues for Chronic Wasting Disease
The Denver Post (Posted by The Salt Lake Tribune)
Jeremy P. Meyer
06 Oct 2006
Wildlife: Scientists find blood, saliva can be common channels for infection between animals; human handlers cautioned
Chronic wasting disease passes between animals through saliva and blood - most likely when they nuzzle or groom one another - according to results of a Colorado State University-led study published Thursday in the journal Science. Previously, researchers thought the fatal disease spread through urine or feces on grasses that animals ate.
"The study suggests we were looking at the wrong end of the animal," said John Pape, a Colorado health department epidemiologist. Deer, elk and moose pass the deadly disease through normal interaction, said Colorado State professor Edward Hoover, who led the 18-month study. The CSU research indicates blood-sucking insects, such as mosquitoes and ticks, could carry the disease. It also confirms that people who come in contact with animals' blood must be careful, Pape said.
"That reinforces our recommendation to hunters that you should be using gloves when you are dressing your animals," he said. "You should also have your animal tested when you are harvesting animals in affected areas." The study supports the theory that no tissue from an infected animal can be considered safe from the disease.
Virus Killing Deer, but Will Pass Soon, Experts Say
The Kalamazoo Gazette
04 Oct 2006
Rosemary Parker
At least 40 deer in Allegan County have died this summer and fall of a virus that kills deer, can sicken sheep and cattle, but is not harmful to people. So far there has been one confirmed death of a captive deer, and state wildlife and agriculture officials say the localized infection does not appear to pose a widespread threat to either the state's wild- deer herd or Michigan's $30 million deer-farm industry.
The virus, epizootic hemorrhagic disease, causes a deadly infection in deer -- but unlike the dreaded Chronic Wasting Disease that has stricken deer in other states, there is no danger of it crossing into a related virus that can be contracted by humans, officials say.
Wildlife experts say this outbreak of EHD will end in a few weeks, when the first hard frost kills the gnats that spread it. ``This whole thing is history when the first frost hits and three days passes,'' said John Lerg, a wildlife biologist at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
White Tigers Died Due to Severe Blood Infection
The Times of India - Cities: Chandigarh
06 Oct 2006
The histopathalogy tests conducted by Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Agriculture Science University (GADVASU) finally confirmed that Saurabh and Diya, the pair of white tigers, died of severe blood infection.
In a report faxed to the field director, the histopathology reports have ruled out any specific disease in the bactriological test. "HPE of tissues does not confirm any particular disease. So experts opined that these animals died due to severe infection of blood, going by their blood test," sources in GADVASU informed.
The incident took place on September 20 when three-year-old Saurabh and three and half-year-old white tigress Diya, died within six hours in the Mahendera Chaudhary Zoological Park at Chhatbir. Guddu, another tiger who was kept in the same enclosure too fell ill, but responded to the treatment. He was released in the show area after three days. The two deaths had kicked off a controversy about animal care and upkeep of the zoo.
U.S., Australian Scientists Develop Vaccine Against Deadly Viruses
Infection Control Today
05 Oct 2006
Scientists from the UniformedServicesUniversity of the Health Sciences (USU), in collaboration with counterparts from the Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) in Geelong, have developed a vaccine to fight two deadly animal viruses that can infect and kill humans and are considered to be potential biological terror agents.
Dr. Christopher C. Broder, professor in the USU Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and Dr. Katharine Bossart, a former graduate student in that department and now postdoctoral fellow at the AAHL, along with their Australian colleagues, explained their vaccine discovery in the Sept. 27, 2006 online edition of the Journal of Virology.
Nipah virus and Hendra virus are recently emerged and closely related viral pathogens and both agents are considered to be potential biological terror agents. Nipah virus killed more than 100 people and a million pigs in Malaysia in 1999, while the Hendra virus killed two Australians and 16 horses in Australia's northern state of Queensland in 1994-95. Both viruses are carried by fruit bats in nature and have alarmed scientists with the ease in which they jump from animals to humans.
Re-emerging Disease Can Affect Any Dog Anywhere Home
TownLife.com
06 Oct 2006
Dr. John Simon
Leptospirosis is a highly infectious bacterial disease of both dogs and humans. Up to 10 years ago, it was predominantly a disease of dogs living in rural areas or on farms. Unfortunately, this is not the case any more. Leptospirosis is a re-emerging disease found in dogs from all walks of life, including dogs living in cities and suburban neighborhoods.
It affects dogs of all ages, breeds, and gender. The wildlife reservoirs for the disease are skunks, opossums, raccoons and rats. The disease is transmitted primarily in the urine and, therefore, is easily passed on to other dogs or humans that come in contact with the infected urine.
Humans that come in contact with infected animals or contaminated water may develop signs of the disease within five days to four weeks. A dog typically becomes infected indirectly by drinking water contaminated by the urine of an infected animal, through direct contact with an infected animal and through bite wounds.
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