Cornell Scientists Find Quick Test to Detect Deadly Fish Virus
Associated Press (Posted by Newsday Inc.)
15 Feb 2007
A new test will help scientists quickly detect a fast-spreading aquatic virus that threatens the Great Lakes fishing industry, according to its developers at Cornell University. Current tests for the viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus involve culturing cells and can take up to a month. The new technique, which measures viral genetic material, takes only 24 hours to identify the virus, said Paul Bowser, a Cornell professor of aquatic animal medicine.
"Earlier detection of the virus will provide us with a powerful research and diagnostic tool that will greatly aid in efforts to limit the impact of VHSV," Bowser said Thursday. The researchers hope to have the technique validated by the end of 2007.
EPA and DOJ Reach Agreement With WCI Steel on Wildlife Protection; $620,000 Penalty Assessed
PRNewswire-USNewswire (Posted by EARTHtimes.com)
15 Feb 2007
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Region 5
Area: Ohio, USA
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Justice have reached an agreement with WCI Steel Inc., Warren, Ohio, on measures to protect migratory birds and other wildlife from oily waste found in impoundments (ponds, sludge containment areas or lagoons) on its property. The company will also pay a $620,000 penalty through a related bankruptcy proceeding.
The consent decree resolves a 2002 order that required WCI to remove oily waste from, and permanently stop managing oily waste at, 11 impoundments. For some of the impoundments WCI was given the option of installing netting. The order was based in part on inspections by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and EPA. The inspectors found 34 dead birds and bats at the site.
U.S. Wild-Bird Survey Finds no Evidence of H5N1
Reuters (Posted by Scientific America)
15 Feb 2007
M Fox
Area: United States
Tests on nearly 75,000 wild ducks, gulls and other birds have turned up no sign of dangerous H5N1 avian influenza in the United States, a federal agency said on Thursday. “The program was unprecedented in scope in terms of the range of species of birds sampled, which included waterfowl, shorebirds, gulls and terns, among others," Hon Ip of the U.S. Geological Survey said in an e-mail posted to an infectious-disease message group.
"As of today, the testing of over 74,506 samples in wild birds from across the United States has been completed, and no highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses have been found," said Ip, who works at the USGS National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin. The tests did turn up several samples of a low-pathogenic H5N1 virus, which is not particularly dangerous to either birds or to people, the USGS reports on its Web site at http://wildlifedisease.nbii.gov/ai/. Canada has run similar surveys and found no dangerous bird flu.
Maryland Safe from CWD ... So Far
The Examiner
CB Pfeiffer
16 Feb 2007
Area: Maryland, USA
Chronic Wasting Disease is a disease that we don’t have (yet) and don’t want (ever) in our deer population. It’s related to other transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (such as mad cow disease), fancy words for a disease that makes Swiss cheese of the brain, causes white-tailed deer and other cervids (elk, moose, mule deer, etc.) to drool, stand like a wobbly fawn with lowered head, lose muscle tone and ultimately waste away and die.
Earlier this week, John W. Howard, superintendent of the Antietam National Battlefield, held a public meeting to discuss CWD and possible preventions and solutions for Maryland. CWD has been found in Slanesville, W.Va., 60 miles across the Potomac River from Cumberland. The National Park Service has a protocol that CWD within a certain distance of any of their properties requires action. The incident in Hampshire County met this protocol. The meeting itself was short, perhaps with more choir to sing than congregation to listen.
Parasite Infects 80,000 MD. Trout: 'Whirling Disease' Forces Killings at Hatcheries and Lowers Spring Stocks
The Baltimore Sun
15 Feb 2007
T Pelton
Area: Maryland
A parasite that deforms the spines and skulls of trout - making them swim in circles often until they die - has infected 80,000 fish in two hatcheries in Western Maryland, state officials said yesterday. The "whirling disease," which has devastated trout populations in Western states, has also been found downstream from the two Maryland hatcheries, in the North Branch of the Potomac River, said Bob Lunsford, director of freshwater fisheries for Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
“We are testing all of the places that we know have wild trout populations so we can get a handle on how widespread this parasite is," Lunsford said. State officials killed the 80,000 infected fish at the Bear Creek Rearing Station near Accident and in another privately owned hatchery used by the state in southern Garrett County.
>>> NBII Mountain Prairie Information Node – Whirling Disease Web Page
>>> Whirling Disease Foundation
>>> Whirling Disease Foundation
Group Will Look into Elk-Ranching Rules
Mail Tribune, Inc.
Feb 15 2007
M Freeman
Area: Oregon, USA
Brenda Ross believes the captive elk ranch she runs outside of Molalla is a tourist attraction and living biology lesson that should be experienced before it literally gets regulated to death. For $5 apiece, visitors get an up-front view of as many as 68 elk her family bought from a rural Central Point rancher two years ago. They learn how antlers grow and shed, what an ivory tooth is and why a bull will show you his.
"Most people never get a chance to see elk," Ross says. "Here, they can see an elk up close, take pictures, even smell them." A coalition of hunting and animal-rights groups have sought to close down operations like the Ross' in five years or phase them out through attrition, saying fears of disease spread and possible problems if the elk escape outweigh their potential values here. Representatives from Oregon's 16 licensed elk ranches and their opponents will spend most of 2007 helping craft future restrictions on their operations and whether the industry will be phased out in Oregon.
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