Another Plague Case Confirmed: A Squirrel in Aurora Has Tested Positive for the Plague
Fox 31
15 May 2007
J Romero
Area: Colorado USA
Another animal has tested positive for plague in the Denver metro. A squirrel in Aurora is now the 18th animal to have the disease confirmed. Most of the squirrels have been found around City Park. That's where we found parents, and pet owners with plenty of questions.
Health officials say the disease is spread by fleas that jump from animal to animal. And if they get on humans, people can get sick. Four contracted the plague last year in Colorado. One person died from the disease in 2004.
Sick Future: As Species Disappear, Human Disease May Spike
Live Science
16 May 2007
A Thompson
The jeopardized health of Earth's depleted ecosystems is putting our own health in danger as more and more diseases like AIDS, West Nile and Ebola could jump from animals to find a home in humans, new research shows. Urbanization, deforestation and other habitat changes wrought by humans and global warming are contributing to the decline of many species: a 2006 report in the journal Conservation Biology estimated that nearly a quarter of the world's plant and vertebrate animal species could be extinct by 2050. One of the most arresting potential consequences of this biodiversity loss, discussed here at a recent symposium at the American Museum of Natural History, is the likelihood that animal diseases will cross the species barrier and begin infecting humans faster than ever in recorded history.
"I think biodiversity is a big factor [in disease emergence]," said ecologist Richard Ostfeld of the Institute of Ecosystem Studies, in a telephone interview. "And clearly climate change is affecting biodiversity." But predicting which diseases might make this leap is complicated by the fact that researchers know so little about the origins of many of the diseases that plague humans now. Humans have suffered from infectious diseases for millions of years, but many pathogens have reared their ugly heads only in the last 11,000 years, since the rise of agriculture.
Hawaiian Monk Seals Monitored for Infectious Diseases [Press Release]
E-Wire
15 May 2007
Area: Hawaii USA
Dr. Alonso Aguirre, Vice President of Conservation Medicine at Wildlife Trust, and a team of researchers report in an article published in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases that infectious diseases could pose a serious threat to the Hawaiian monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi). The Hawaiian monk seal is one of the most endangered marine mammals in the world and their numbers have declined in recent years. In addition to the threat posed by starvation, predation by sharks, and net entanglement, monk seals may be affected by biotoxins and infectious diseases. As part of the conservation effort to save this species, Dr. Aguirre and the team studied and tested more than 25 percent of the Hawaiian monk seal population over a five-year period along the northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
The seals were sampled for antibodies to viruses, bacteria and parasites known to kill other marine mammal species. The monk seals were captured and handled in accordance with the National Marine Fisheries Service guidelines to minimize adverse effects on the animals. The scientific team sampled from six breeding sites in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Current knowledge of infectious diseases affecting other marine mammals is documented but little has been known about the potential impact on the monk seal population.
West Nile Virus Decimates Suburban Birds
The Associated Press (Posted by ledger-enquirer.com)
16 May 2007
S Borenstein
Area: United States
Birds that once flourished in suburban skies, including robins, bluebirds and crows, have been devastated by West Nile virus, a study found. Populations of seven species have had dramatic declines across the continent since West Nile emerged in the United States in 1999, according to a first-of-its-kind study. The research, to be published Thursday by the journal Nature, compared 26 years of bird breeding surveys to quantify what had been known anecdotally. "We're seeing a serious impact," said study co-author Marm Kilpatrick, a senior research scientist at the Consortium of Conservation Medicine in New York.
West Nile virus, which is spread by mosquito bites, has infected 23,974 people in confirmed cases since 1999, killing 962, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the disease, primarily an avian virus, has been far deadlier for birds. The death toll for crows and jays is easily in the hundreds of thousands, based on the number dead bodies found and extrapolated for what wasn't reported, Kilpatrick said. It hit the seven species - American crow, blue jay, tufted titmouse, American robin, house wren, chickadee and Eastern bluebird - hard enough to be scientifically significant. Only the blue jay and house wren bounced back, in 2005.
Related Article
Monitoring Vets’ Health ‘Could Stop Diseases’
The Times
17 May 2007
L Smith
Area: California USA
An international system to monitor the health of people who work with animals would provide early warning of new diseases, a study has concluded. Researchers from the University of California, USA, said that most significant infectious diseases affecting people came originally from animals and that a monitoring scheme could identify new diseases before they spread. “We continue to be bombarded by animal pathogens,” they wrote in the journal Nature. “Yet there is no ongoing systematic global effort to monitor for pathogens emerging from animals to humans.”
TB Infected Bull in Wales
Medical News Today
16 May 2007
Area: Wales United Kingdom
The president of BCVA, Mr Graham Brooks, has issued the following statement regarding the positive TB skin reaction shown by a bullock in Wales. "BCVA are concerned about the possible ramifications and consequences surrounding the positive reaction shown by a bullock in Wales to the comparative intradermal skin test for bovine TB. . . .There is a wider responsibility to ensure this disease does not spread to other species and, in particular, wildlife, which could create a reservoir of local infection which could in turn maintain and spread the disease more widely. The risks of this happening to the surrounding wildlife and cattle populations are unacceptable. There is a responsibility of the keepers of this animal to comply with the legislation surrounding this disease to ensure we achieve adequate control in the national herd."
No comments:
Post a Comment