October 11, 2007

Solutions to Problems Caused by Consumption of African Bushmeat
Voice of America - voanews.com
26 Sep 2007
C Mallard
Area: Africa

The bushmeat phenomenon continues in Africa, as do efforts to provide alternatives. An expert says the advantages to reducing dependence on bushmeat would include less hunger and poverty and fewer health risks. Freddy Manongi is the deputy principal of the College of African Wildlife Management in Tanzania. He also has a weekly radio show that promotes environmental awareness. In this fifth of a five-part series, Manongi told English to Africa reporter Cole Mallard that one of the main problems caused by eating bushmeat is the transmission of diseases such as Ebola and Marburg from wildlife to humans.

Manongi says uncontrolled bushmeat hunting causes a decline in wildlife, leading to the extinction of some species. Manongi says the bushmeat trade also affects wildlife tourism – a major source of income for African governments – and it can create an imbalance in the wildlife population. Manongi says the use of bushmeat is driven by the need for food and income and that changing behavior is key to establishing successful alternatives. He believes it would not be easy but could be done with viable and sustainable choices that provide economic incentives.





Disease Outbreak Hits Wyoming Pronghorn and White-tailed Deer
Wyoming Game and Fish Department (Posted by buckmasters.com)
11 Oct 2007
Area: Wyoming United States

Hemorrhagic disease (HD), an insect borne, infectious and noncontagious disease of wild ruminants was diagnosed as the cause of many white-tailed deer deaths in the Big Horn Basin six years ago - the disease may be back. Landowners, hunters, and Wyoming Game and Fish Department personnel in the Greybull and Lovell areas have reported seeing several sick, dying, and/or dead pronghorn and white-tailed deer. Three pronghorn were recently collected and transported to the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory in Laramie for necropsy. The results revealed that the animals had the classic lesions associated with hemorrhagic disease.

Cynthia Tate, assistant wildlife veterinarian for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, performed the necropsies. Although at the present time, the outward symptoms observed of sick pronghorn and the early necropsy results point toward an outbreak of HD, it takes approximately two weeks to isolate the virus. "I am pursuing other avenues for confirming the diagnosis, but for now, it's safe to say that the pronghorns sent down are highly suspect cases of hemorrhagic disease," Tate said. Summer conditions have been ideal for an outbreak of the disease according to Tate.





Health Officials Concerned by Spread of Tropical Diseases to the North
A.M. Costa Rica - amcostarica.com
09 Oct 2007

Animal diseases are advancing globally, and countries will have to invest more in surveillance and control measures, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said Monday, citing West Nile Virus, Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever and other plagues that have crossed from tropical to temperate zones. "No country can claim to be a safe haven with respect to animal diseases," warned Joseph Domenech, the organization's chief veterinary officer. "Transboundary animal diseases that were originally confined to tropical countries are on the rise around the globe. They do not spare temperate zones including Europe, the United States and Australia," he added.

Globalization, the movement of people and goods, tourism, urbanization and probably also climate change are favouring the spread of animal viruses around the planet, the organization said. "The increased mobility of viruses and their carriers is a new threat that countries and the international community should take seriously. Early detection of viruses together with surveillance and control measures are needed as effective defence measures," Domenech said, calling for strong political support and funding for animal health and more adequate veterinary services. The agency raised concern about the spread of the non-contagious bluetongue virus, which affects cattle, goats, deer and sheep. First discovered in South Africa, it has spread to many countries for reasons that remain unclear, the organization said.





What Happens to Pharmaceuticals in Wastewater?
National Geographic - thegreenguide.com
PW McRandle
01 Oct 2007

Antidepressant-addled bluegills, gender-confused sucker fish—our nation's wildlife are becoming the stuff of tabloid headlines. And obviously they're not the ones popping pills. With 45 percent of Americans taking at least one prescription drug, we flush away a constant flow of old and unused medications that keep on working after they disappear down drains, moving to wastewater-treatment plants and into waterways. Take those transdermal birth-control patches. Only a small amount of the drug they contain, ethynyl estradiol, ever passes into the body; the rest remains in the patch as it heads to the sewer.

At risk is the collapse of whole fish populations, as happened to fathead minnows in a Canadian test lake exposed for several years to ethynyl estradiol. Both males and females showed changes in sex organs that made reproduction difficult and drove them to near extinction, according to this May's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Traditionally, as a safe, quick means of eliminating drugs, patients and pharmacists have been instructed to flush all old medications down the toilet. The troubles arise once medications reach sewage-treatment plants.





OTHER WILDLIFE DISEASE RELATED NEWS



JOURNAL ARTICLES OF INTEREST

A Real-time PCR Assay for the Monitoring of Influenza a Virus in Wild Birds [online abstract only]
J Virol Methods. 2007 Sep; 144(1-2): 27-31
M Karlsson et al.

Efficient in Vitro Amplification of Chronic Wasting Disease Prp(RES) [online abstract only]
J Virol. 2007 Sep; 81(17): 9605-8
TD Kurt et al.

Improved Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay to Reveal Mycoplasma agassizii Exposure: A Valuable Tool in the Management of Environmentally Sensitive Tortoise Populations [online abstract only]
Clin Vaccine Immunol. 2007 Sep; 14(9): 1190-5
LD Wendland et al.

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