The Plague Fighters: Stopping the Next Pandemic Before It Begins
Wired
24 Apr 2007
E Ratliff

HIV, Ebola, SARS — any of the world's most horrifying diseases are caused by animal viruses that made the jump to humans. Now a UCLA scientist thinks he can stop the next pandemic before it even starts.

Array Sampson slings a makeshift shotgun over his shoulder and sets off down a footpath leading away from Okoroba, a remote village in Cameroon's Southwest Province. The lanky 36-year-old hunter is wearing ankle-length pants and slotted plastic shoes. He has a shaved head and a thin mustache, and his long strides carry him quickly past small stands of cacao trees and into the thick forest that blankets the surrounding hills.

Expecting a half-day's hunt, he travels light: In addition to the shotgun, he carries only two shells, a small cane backpack, and a machete that hangs in a sheath from his neck. Fleetness could make the difference between a feast of monkey or antelope — bushmeat, as such forest quarry is known in central Africa — and a meager dinner for his family. Trailing behind Sampson, in slacks and an untucked polo shirt, is Efuet Simon Akem, a graduate anthropology student at the University of Yaound in Cameroon. Akem, who grew up in a village in a region south of Okoroba, is here to record how and what Sampson hunts.

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West Nile Virus: Delaware Residents Asked to Report Dead Birds to State [Press Release]
Delaware Department of Natural Resources (Posted by thehorse.com)
23 Apr 2007
Area: Delaware USA

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control's Mosquito Control Section is again asking for the public's help in monitoring West Nile virus (WNV) by reporting sick or dead wild birds that might have contracted the virus. West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne disease of considerable concern to human health and unvaccinated horses. Beginning Monday, April 23, Mosquito Control requests that the public report only sick or dead crows, blue jays, cardinals, robins and hawks, or owls. Clusters of five or more sick or dead wild birds of any species should also be reported.

Specimens should appear to have been dead for less than 24 hours, and not killed by other obvious causes. Specimens collected by Mosquito Control will be submitted to the Delaware Public Health Laboratory for virus testing. From early June through mid-October Mosquito Control will also operate its statewide network of "sentinel chicken" stations, which keep watch for WNV and eastern equine encephalitis, another mosquito-borne disease affecting horses and humans. In 2003 in Delaware there were 17 reported human cases and two human fatalities from WNV, which is primarily transmitted by the common house mosquito.

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Great Lakes Fish Virus May Threaten U.S. Aquaculture
Reuters (Posted by scientificamerican.com)
23 Apr 2007
L Haarlander

A virus in the U.S. Great Lakes that has killed tens of thousands of fish in recent years is spreading and poses a threat to inland fish farming, a U.S. Agriculture Department official said on Monday. The pathogen, viral hemorrhagic septicemia, or VHS, causes internal bleeding in fish. It does not harm humans, even if they eat infected fish. The federal agency issued an emergency order in October to limit movement of live fish caught in the eight states bordering the Great Lakes and two Canadian provinces.

"We're concerned that this virus could get out of the Great Lakes and affect other populations," Jill Roland, a fish pathologist and assistant director for aquaculture for the USDA in Riverdale, Maryland, said in a telephone interview. "The virus could potentially affect the catfish industry," she said. Catfish make up the largest sector of the $1 billion U.S. aquaculture industry, accounting for $462 million in sales, according to a 2005 USDA aquaculture census. The public first began hearing about the virus after a die-off of fish in Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and the upper St. Lawrence River in May 2006 with dead fish washing up on beaches.

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Disease Kills More Than 1,000 Birds
Bismarck Tribune
24 Apr 2007
R Hinton
Area: North Dakota USA

More than 1,000 lesser scaup have died from a disease this spring at one southeastern North Dakota lake. State and federal wildlife scientists have collected almost 1,200 lesser scaup carcasses at Pheasant Lake, said Erika Butler, North Dakota Game and Fish Department veterinarian. The lake is west of Ellendale. Preliminary testing point to an avian form of coccidiosis, a disease that isn't a threat to humans, pets or livestock, Butler said Monday. Test results were negative for avian influenza, she added. The scaup die-off is the sixth within the past 20 years at the lake, but this one is by far the largest.

Last year, 50 to 70 scaup died, and the largest scaup die-off previously was 227 in 1990, Butler said. Coccidiosis is caused by stress, and migration plus a snowstorm this spring could have been too much stress for the ducks. "The snowstorm could have pushed them over the edge," she said. Other species of waterfowl and shorebirds did not appear to be affected by the disease, Butler added.

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Survey: Kauai's Rare Forest Birds Face Threat to Survival
Hawaii Reporter
23 Apr 2007
S Fretz et al.
Area: Hawaii USA

Starting this month, the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) is sending crews of biologists into the forest areas of Kaua‘i to conduct population surveys of rare native forest birds to understand whether a suspected decline is taking place, and if so, to determine what areas are affected. “The results of a 2005 survey deep in the Alaka‘i Wilderness Area, as well as recent reports from other biologists and citizens, suggest that populations of the remaining native forest birds may now be in rapid decline due to a collection of threats that may include loss and degradation of habitat, predation by introduced mammals, and disease,” said Peter Young, DLNR chairperson. “Our teams reported a conspicuous absence during these surveys of several species, especially the endemic ‘akeke‘e, or Kaua‘i ‘akepa and ‘akikiki, or Kaua‘i creeper, from many areas throughout the Alaka‘i where they have been seen regularly in recent years.

“Although survey results can be highly variable for rare species, we feel that the data and recent reports from Kaua‘i’s birding community are compelling enough to initiate a series of surveys designed to adequately assess the status of these species,” Young said. “The news is very disturbing but we are focusing efforts to get answers quickly so that we can take action as soon as possible. “We are very fortunate that our field teams have help from many partners and volunteers, including private citizens/photographers familiar with Kaua‘i’s birds, scientists from the United States Geological Survey, Pacific Islands Ecosystems Research Center, Kilauea Field Station, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, University of Hawaii Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit, The Nature Conservancy, Kaua‘i Invasive Species Committee, and staff of the Keauhou Bird conservation center,” he said.

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Journal Article(s) of Interest

Trichinella zimbabwensis in Wild Reptiles of Zimbabwe and Mozambique and Farmed Reptiles of Ethiopia [online abstract only]

Vet Parasitol. 2007 Feb 28;143(3-4):305-10

E Pozio et al.

Occurrence of Giardia and Cryptosporidium in Norwegian Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes) [online abstract only]

Vet Parasitol. 2007 Feb 28;143(3-4):347-53
IS Hamnes et al.

Impact of Emerging Zoonotic Diseases on Animal Health: 8th Biennial Conference of the Society for Tropical Veterinary Medicine [Table of Contents]
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2006 Oct; 1081
Editors EF Blouin and JC Maillard