To Protect Endangered Wolves, a Vaccine Strategy
The New York Times
17 Oct 2006
Henry Fountain
Photo courtesy of Chris Gash
One way to prevent outbreaks of infectious disease in animals or people is to vaccinate nearly all of the population. That’s why almost every child is immunized against mumps and measles, for example. But what if such a broad vaccination program is impossible? That was the problem faced by scientists working to conserve the Ethiopian wolf, the most endangered canine species in the world.
Only 500 of these animals exist, in remote mountainous parts of central and northern Ethiopia. A major outbreak of a disease like rabies or distemper could lead to their extinction. Vaccinating any wild animal is difficult, but these wolves pose special problems, including the rough terrain and the need to use vaccines that must be injected rather than oral ones, which have not been approved for use in Africa.
But scientists in Britain have discovered an alternative approach to protecting these animals. By quickly and selectively immunizing a relatively small number of wolves at the beginning of an outbreak, they say, the disease can be contained. “The idea is small outbreaks can be tolerated, but large ones cannot,” said Dan Haydon, a statistical ecologist at Glasgow University.
Avian Influenza Tests Complete on Wild Green-Winged Teals in Illinois [Joint DOI and USDA News Release]
DOI and USDA
17 Oct 2006
The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Interior today announced final test results, which confirm that a low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) virus was found in samples collected last month from wild Green-winged Teals in Illinois. LPAI has been detected several times in wild birds in North America and poses no risk to human health. The USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) confirmed the presence of H6N2 through virus isolation in a pool of five samples of the 11 samples collected from wild Green-winged Teals in the Rice Lake Conservation Area of Fulton County, Illinois.
Initial screening results announced on Sept. 29 indicated that H5 and N1 subtypes might be present in the collected samples, but further testing was necessary to confirm the H and N subtypes as well as pathogenicity. The initial rapid screening tests are highly sensitive and can detect active and inactive viruses in samples. Varieties of this test can screen for the presence of all strains of avian influenza virus.
Because these rapid screening tests are highly sensitive, it is not uncommon to have positive results for a specific subtype on the initial screen test and yet not be able to isolate a virus of that subtype. This was the case for these samples, which tested as a weak positive for both H5 and N1 in the initial screen tests. During confirmatory testing, H5 and N1 subtypes were not found but instead H6 and N2, confirming that the virus is LPAI.
CSU Awarded Grant for Bird Flu Research
RockyMountainNews.com
17 Oct 2006
Jim Erickson
Colorado State University researchers have been awarded a $2.6 million federal grant to study how interactions between birds and people may spread avian influenza. The three-year study will be conducted in the Western United States and central Indonesia. It is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Indonesia, scientists will study how people infected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus interacted with birds carrying the germ.
In the U.S., where the highly pathogenic H5N1 has not been detected, they will examine the various ways birds enter the Western states and come in contact with humans. The goal of the U.S. part of the study is to strengthen H5N1 monitoring efforts and prevent an outbreak in poultry and people. Small, noncommercial or semi- commercial "backyard flocks" of poultry are common in the Western U.S. but are poorly monitored. If the H5N1 virus enters the United States, the people who care for those flocks could be at risk, according to agricultural officials.
Similar flocks exist in Indonesia. By studying backyard flocks, the Colorado State researchers will help agriculture and health officials monitor the birds' health, track the spread of disease if an outbreak occurs, and inform flock owners about biosecurity and avian influenza. In Indonesia, the researchers will study birds that have been vaccinated against avian influenza. Some scientists believe that inferior vaccines may have produced partially immune Indonesian poultry.
To Lose Both Would Look Like Carelessness: Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumour Disease [Journal Article]PLoS Biology
17 Oct 2006
Hamish McCallum and Menna Jones
Photo courtesy of Menna Jones
Introduction
At the time of European settlement, Tasmania was the last remaining refuge of the two largest marsupial carnivores: the thylacine (or Tasmanian tiger), Thylacinus cynocephalus, and the Tasmanian devil, Sarcophilus harrisii. The extinction of the thylacine is perhaps the most notorious of the many Australian mammal extinctions since European colonisation. It has been partially blamed on disease [1], although there is little hard evidence to support this idea [2].
In 1996, Tasmanian devils were photographed in northeast Tasmania with what were apparently large tumours on their faces [3] (Figure 1). Sporadic reports continued during the next five years. By 2005, the tumours were occurring on more than half of the range of the species, and associated with substantial population declines. Following concerns that the disease might cause the extinction of the devil, the species has recently been listed as vulnerable to extinction at state and national levels.
In the words Oscar Wilde put into Lady Bracknell's mouth, to lose one large marsupial carnivore may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both would look like carelessness. This paper uses the Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease (DFTD) as a case study of the wider issue of how to manage an emerging disease threat that poses a serious conservation threat: how should you proceed when you know very little? This is a question common to many ecological problems; all environmental management operates in the face of uncertainty [4].
Buffalo Auction Cancelled Because of Illness in Herd
The Hutchinson News
18 Oct 2006
The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks has canceled its 2006 buffalo auction scheduled for Nov. 15 at Maxwell Wildlife Refuge. Park officials found Mycoplasma bovis-induced pneumonia and arthritis among some buffalo in the Maxwell herd. Mycoplasma bovis is a major but often overlooked pathogen that causes respiratory disease, arthritis and mastitis in cattle. When first isolated in the United States in the 1960s, the disease occurred infrequently, but now the infection has become more widespread in cattle herds.
Wildlife staff will immediately begin an intensive vaccination program in order to eliminate the disease in the herd, said Randy Clark, the agency's regional public lands supervisor. The department plans to resume its annual buffalo auction at Maxwell in 2007. The 2,250-acre Maxwell Refuge is 6 miles north of Canton in McPherson County. KDWP maintains a fenced-in display herd of about 200 buffalo at the refuge, selling surplus animals at auction annually.
The agency maintains a separate herd of buffalo at the Sand Sage Bison Range near Garden City, and no animals in that herd have been affected. Wildlife and parks also sells its surplus animals from that herd at the annual Maxwell auction. The animals this year will be sold Dec. 2 during the Kansas Buffalo Association's auction in Salina.
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