Red Squirrel Dies from Deadly Pox
BBC News
11 May 2007
Area: Scotland
The first case of a red squirrel dying in Scotland as a result of the squirrel pox virus has been confirmed.
The animal, which was displaying classic symptoms of the virus, was found near Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, on Tuesday. The squirrel was euthanised following an examination at the South of Scotland Wildlife Hospital, Dumfries. Edinburgh vets then confirmed squirrel pox. The virus is carried by non-native grey squirrels. Conservationists 
have been working hard to try and stop the virus coming over the border into Scotland, and until now had been successful.
Intensive control measures have been in place since its presence in Scotland was first detected in invasive populations of grey squirrels in May 2005. Although the virus is fatal to red squirrels, greys remain unaffected by the disease. Scottish Natural Heritage currently has two grey squirrel control officers working in the south of Scotland.
Melamine Discovered in Hatchery Fish Food
The Register-Guard
9 May 2007
D Dietz
Area: Oregon, USA
Fish bound for Oregon's rivers and streams have eaten a steady diet of melamine-tainted food since late December. A half-dozen state hatcheries - including those at Leaburg and Oakridge - immediately ceased using their regular fish food on Tuesday after the state learned from the federal Food and Drug Administration about the contamination, Oregon officials said.
The state hatcheries fed about 8 million spring and fall chinook and rainbow trout the contaminated meal. The state Department of Fish & Wildlife last month released about half of the fish - all fall chinook - into Big Creek, a tributary of the lower Columbia River. None of the melamine-fed fish have been released in Lane County, said Steve Williams, a deputy administrator at the Department of Fish & Wildlife.
USDA Restricts Movement Of Live Fish Susceptible To Lethal Virus Hemorrhagic SepticemiaScience Daily
14 May 2007
Area: Great Lakes Region, USA & Canada
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service recently revised its Federal Order on viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS), a highly contagious disease of some fresh and saltwater fish, to allow for catch-and-release fishing activities because they do not unduly increase the risk of introduction and spread of VHS. Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia, or VHS virus, is not a threat to people who handle infected fish or want to eat their catch, but it can kill more than 25 fish species.
It is a serious pathogen of fresh and saltwater fish that is an emerging disease in the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada. The October 2006 Federal Order was established to prohibit the importation of 37 species of live fish from two Canadian provinces into the United States and the interstate movement of the same species from the eight states bordering the Great Lakes. This revision of the Federal Order will allow for the catch-and-release of VHS-susceptible fish in waters that cross state and international boundaries.
A New DynamicThe Scientist
May 2007
B Borrell
Photos Courtesy of Eye of Science / Photo Researchers, Inc.
With an eye toward host-pathogen interactions, can a Penn State center predict and prevent the next pandemic?
Despite advances in vaccine strategies and drug treatments, many scientists worry that not enough is being done to suppress, let alone anticipate, the next pandemic. Scientists at CIDD are taking principles of population biology, community ecology, and evolution and wedding them to epidemiology, immunology, and genomics. This approach could help optimize vaccination strategies, design eradication programs, halt incipient pandemics, and it could identify potential zoonoses before they've infected humans.
In the three short years that CIDD has been around, it's become a hotbed of interdisciplinary collaboration with 12 faculty members from departments around the Penn State campus. Daniel Falush, an evolutionary geneticist at Oxford University, describes one effect CIDD has had in the United Kingdom: "There was a great sucking sound because these famous British scientists were disappearing to Penn State."
Answers on Anti-vector Measure
Alameda Times-Star
15 May 2007
Area: California, USA
. . . information from the county's Vector Control Service District about the election by mail to raise the vector control property tax.
Q. What is the proposed measure?
A. The county's Vector Control Service District's mission is to prevent human disease, injury and discomfort by controlling insects, rats and other rodents and emerging diseases. The current tax has not been increased in 10 years. Costs have increased, and the district is operating at a deficit.
If approved, the increased rates would provide more money for disease surveillance and vector control, including testing for vector-borne diseases, such as plague and Lyme disease.
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