Virus in the Frame for Prion Diseases
NewScientist.com
12 Feb 2007
D McKenzie
Viruses, not prions, may be at the root of diseases such as scrapie, BSE and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), researchers say. If true, the new theory could revolutionise our understanding of these so-called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), and potentially lead to new ways of treating them. The widely accepted theory of what causes infectious prion diseases – such as vCJD, scrapie and “mad cow disease” – is that deformed proteins called prions corrupt other brain proteins, eventually clogging and destroying brain cells.
However, this theory has not been definitively proven. Laura Manuelidis at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, US, has insisted for years that tiny virus-like particles observed in TSE-infected brains may be the culprits. But such brains are degenerating, so the particles had been dismissed as general debris. When Manuelidis studied cultures of neural cells infected with two particular strains of scrapie and CJD, she found that these virus-like particles were clustered in regular arrays within the cells – in a pattern that viruses regularly form in cells – and she saw no apparent prions in the cells.
DNR to Reduce Deer Herd
Thief River Falls Times
13 Feb 2007
Photo Courtesy of Record-Eagle
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will hold a public meeting Thursday to outline plans to reduce the risk of bovine tuberculosis (TB) spreading to wild deer and cattle in northwestern Minnesota. The disease, discovered at a cattle farm near Skime in 2005, has infected seven cattle herds in the area. Bovine TB was confirmed in two wild deer in 2005 and five additional deer tested presumed positive last fall. The public meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Feb. 15 in the Wannaska Elementary School gymnasium.
“Bovine TB is a progressive, chronic bacterial disease that affects primarily cattle, but also deer. The disease compromises the immune system and can lead to death from related causes,” said Dr. Michelle Powell, DNR wildlife health program coordinator. “Another result of this disease is that cattle producers across the state face major economic hardships from mandatory testing of cattle and restrictions on cattle movement.”
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Mysterious Toxin Kills Nearly 3 Dozen O.C. BirdsCBS
13 Feb 2007
Photo Courtesy of CBS
A toxic substance has killed nearly three dozen shore birds at the mouth of the Santa Ana River, some after suffering seizures. Some 25 dead birds have been brought to Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach within the past week, but the center's Lisa Birkle said many dead birds may have been disposed of elsewhere. Five birds were brought in this morning. Twelve others were brought in alive, and of those, three are still alive, she said.
"It's been going on about a week but it peaked yesterday," Birkle said. The birds were found along the shore at the mouth of the Santa Ana River, which forms the boundary between Huntington Beach and Newport Beach, Birkle said. The birds exhibited symptoms of neurological problems and hypothermia and suffered seizures, Birkle said. What is perplexing is that the different types of birds, which include grebes, avocets and cormorants, "don't share food and feeding techniques," Birkle said.
Bird Flu is Linked to Global Trade in Poultry: Migrating Birds No Longer Seen as Culprit in Outbreak
International Herald Tribune
12 Feb 2007
E Rosenthal
Photo Courtesy of NewScientist.com
Most of the scattered bird flu outbreaks so far this year probably can be traced to illegal or improper trade in poultry, scientists believe. This probably includes recent outbreaks in Nigeria and Egypt as well as the large outbreak on a turkey farm in England.
Last winter, wild migrating birds were deemed the primary culprit in the bird flu infestations that hopscotched across Europe and Africa. Dead swans and ducks were found in many countries, including Austria, France and Italy."Many of us at the outset underestimated the role of trade," said Samuel Jutzi, director of Animal Production and Health at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome. "The virus is behaving rather differently than last year — it's rather enigmatic." No outbreaks have been attributed to wild birds so far this season and not a single infected wild bird has been detected in Europe or Africa, despite a heightened surveillance system devised in the wake of the crisis last year.
Tests: CWD Numbers Steady
Rapid City Journal
13 Feb 2007
K Woster
The most recent tests for chronic wasting disease among deer and elk populations in the Black Hills show the continued presence of the fatal brain disorder but no sign that it is increasing or spreading rapidly, a state biologist said Monday. Steve Griffin, a wildlife biologist with the state Game, Fish & Parks Department in Rapid City, said there was nothing alarming in the 10 cases of CWD confirmed out of more than 2,500 elk and deer tested since last July.
The annual total of detected CWD cases in South Dakota has varied from seven to 14 cases since the first case was found in 2001. "Right now, we're not showing that it's really expanding very much in South Dakota," Griffin said. "It's in the population. But we're not seeing a great expansion of the disease, in area or prevalence rates." Since testing began in 1997, GF&P has confirmed 57 cases of CWD in free-ranging deer and elk. That total includes 39 deer and 18 elk.
Illegal Wildlife Trade in China Creates Ripples
The International News
14 Feb 2007
Amid the bustling shopping malls and electronics outlets of the southern Chinese boomtown of Shenzhen is a crowded food market believed by locals to sell the freshest produce in town. Feathers fly among cages of live poultry and baskets of frogs maintain a croaking din, while goats, snakes and rabbits jostle for space in cramped stalls next to seafood sellers offering everything from crabs and fish to turtles displayed in buckets of water.
In a quiet corner of the damp and slippery market, however, some unusual animals are on sale. Wild pigs and a group of fat cats lay lazily in their cages, apparently unconcerned by the stall owners who hover idly nearby reading newspapers. Deeper inside the market, the wildlife on offer becomes even more unusual: Chinese muntjacs, small deer with dark red-brown fur popular in claypot stews, huddle in dark corners.
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