Sea Lice Killed up to 95% of Salmon, Team Finds
globeandmail.com
3 Oct 2006
Martin Mittelstaedt
Parasite was fatal to wild juvenile fish swimming past coastal farms
A team of researchers has found that sea lice from a group of fish farms along the British Columbia coast infected and then killed up to 95 per cent of the wild juvenile pink and chum salmon swimming past the pens.
The dramatic finding, to be published this week in the on-line edition of the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is likely to further intensify the debate about the impact of Canada's growing aquaculture business on the health of the country's remaining wild salmon stocks.
The aquaculture industry has long played down the threat posed to wild fish by parasites and diseases from fish farming, but the study's lead author is worried the high mortality he observed indicates that wild B.C. salmon will be at risk if steps are not taken to protect them.
Multiple Genetic Varients Clue To Source Of Deadly Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever Outbreak
Tulane University (Posted by ScienceDaily)
3 Oct 2006
Bats or other cave dwelling animals may have been responsible for the deadly 1998--2000 outbreak of Marburg hemorrhagic fever among gold miners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to an article in the Aug. 31, 2006, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Daniel G. Bausch, associate professor of Tropical Medicine at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and an international team of researchers identified multiple genetic variants of the virus in the outbreak, meaning the fever may have been spread directly to humans by the host animals.
Marburg hemorrhagic fever, a severe filovirus-caused disease related to Ebola, was first identified in European research facilities in 1967 after outbreaks traced to infected monkeys imported from Uganda. Only a few sporadic cases were reported until the 1998--2000 outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
British Cattle Give TB to Badgers, Finds UC Davis Expert [News Release]
EurekAlert
2 Oct 2006
The controversial practice of killing wild badgers to prevent tuberculosis in cattle is unlikely to succeed, according to a new study led by Rosie Woodroffe, an ecologist at the University of California, Davis, and a member of Britain's Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB. In Britain, farming interests and badger protectionists have battled for 30 years over the merits of culling badgers to fight cattle tuberculosis, a disease which can occasionally be transmitted to people.
Farming ministers are currently deciding whether culling should be continued, following a public consultation on the issue which provoked over 47,000 responses. Woodroffe's report, published Oct. 2 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, highlights the limitations of badger culling as a control strategy for cattle TB.
Woodroffe examined the outcomes when badgers were culled as part of a seven-year experiment conducted by the British Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Conventional wisdom suggested that this should reduce transmission among badgers, as well as from badgers to cattle. Instead, after four years of culling, infection rates in badger had doubled.
Wildlife Agency Tells of Plans to Fight Disease
The Associated Press (Posted by Billings Gazette)
3 Oct 2006
A new plan adopted by the state wildlife agency is intended to help Montana deal with a disease that officials say will strike wild animals in the state, if it hasn't already done so. Chronic wasting disease is a brain disorder that kills deer and elk. It has been detected in 13 states and two provinces, among them Wyoming, South Dakota, Utah, Colorado, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
The disease has not been found among Montana's wild herds. "We know it will likely show up here sometime," said Tim Feldner, chronic wasting disease coordinator for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. "The fact that it hasn't so far has given us the opportunity to complete a plan that will be our roadmap for the actions we'll take when it does."
The management plan announced by the department last week sets forth preventive measures and actions Montana will take when the disease is found here. With the presence of chronic wasting disease confirmed in an animal, officials would capture and fit with radio collars 50 animals from the same area where the diseased animal was found.
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