January 3, 2007

Coyote that Bit 3 People Confirmed as Rabid
Associated Press (Posted by Philly.com)
30 Dec 2006

Tests have confirmed that a coyote suspected of having bitten three people in Northampton County this week had rabies, a Pennsylvania Game Commission officer said Thursday. Barry Kreider, the commission's wildlife conservation officer for the county, said that everyone known to have come into contact with the animal had been informed by the state health department.

The three people bitten in Palmer Township on Tuesday morning had begun treatment for rabies even before the presence of the disease was confirmed, officials said. Two men walking dogs and a woman in her front yard were bitten, all within a short distance of Route 248. Wildlife officers shot and killed an animal matching the coyote's description in a cornfield near the Highlands at Glenmoor development Tuesday afternoon.





Dentry: Colorado Searches for Tiger Muskie Source Amid Virus
RockyMountainNews.com
03 Jan 2007
Ed Dentry

Colorado's tiger muskie source has dried up, but the state's fish manager says the Division of Wildlife should be able to find a source for the northern pike/muskellunge hybrids before it needs to stock them in September. Tiger muskies are top predators, valued by fishery managers for cleaning up suckers and other rough fish and by anglers for their sporting qualities and large size. They are spawned in hatcheries and are sterile, hence their numbers can be controlled, but they must be stocked. Colorado gets its tiger muskies from Pennsylvania, which is one of eight states and two Canadian provinces that are subject to a federal ban on shipping fish.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture ordered the ban in October after a virus was found spreading in fish around the Great Lakes. Viral hemorrhagic septicemia has killed muskellunge, northern pike, smallmouth bass, gizzard shad and freshwater drum, among other species. "It's a pretty destructive pathogen," said Greg Gerlich, acting aquatic chief for the Colorado Division of Wildlife. "It's no risk to people, but the recent variant is related to some fairly large die-offs in the Great Lakes."






Avian Influenza, Poultry vs Migratory Birds - Archive Number 20070103.0017 [Editorial]
International Society for Infectious Diseases (Posted on Promedmail.org)
02 Jan 2007
Richard Thomas

[The following are the private comments of Richard Thomas and do not necessarily represent those of Birdlife International.]

The threat posed by Highly Pathogenic H5N1 is still present and the virus is evading attempts to control its spread. Today, it is generally recognised by the FAO and others that the major vector spreading the virus is movement of poultry and poultry products within the poultry industry, and not wild birds:
<http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-11/02/content_5283058.htm>

The presence of the virus [in] a national poultry industry can have massive financial consequences, both on the industry itself and even on national tourism, and it is perhaps not surprising that government cover-ups of the presence of H5N1 have been alleged:
<http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2004/s1032638.htm>
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3427249.stm>
<http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/bird-flu-coverup-alleged/2005/10/20/1129775901802.html>


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