Wildlife Disease News Digest

Wasting Disease Numbers Hard to Measure
Craig Daily Press - craigdailypress.com
13 Oct 2007
D Pressgrove
Area: Colorado United States

Decrease in harvest, submissions for testing make more recent numbers hard to qualify

New information on Chronic Wasting Disease was released in August by the Colorado Department of Wildlife, and while the numbers of new cases in animals didn’t show any large spreading of the disease, state and local officials are cautious not to call the numbers a positive sign. “I think the only thing we can say for certain is that the disease isn’t spreading quickly,” DOW Public Information Officer Randy Hampton said. “The big question is ‘what exactly does that mean?’” According to the report, Chronic Wasting Disease is a naturally-occurring disease that affects the brain of North American cervids (or species of the deer family).

It has spread in Colorado from the Fort Collins area to animals throughout the state. CWD became a popular wildlife health issue since the early ’80s when it was first detected in the area. The survey, which was conducted from 2004-06, showed that CWD is “relatively well-established and widely distributed in Colorado.” One case of CWD has been detected in 20 of 55 deer data analysis units, 12 of 46 elk unites and two of four moose units.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Game Commission Announces EHD Confirmed in Cambria County [Press Release]
Pennsylvania Game Commission (Posted by prnewswire.com)
12 Oct 2007
Area: Pennsylvania United States

Dr. Walter Cottrell, Pennsylvania Game Commission wildlife veterinarian, today announced that test results of dead deer from the southwestern part of the state have confirmed that epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) has been found in Cambria County. Results released today involved a juvenile male that was found dead in Westmont, Cambria County. However, there have been no other reports of sick or dead deer in Cambria County. Other counties in which EHD has been confirmed in wild, free-ranging deer are Allegheny, Beaver, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

The Game Commission has received reports of EHD affected deer in other counties as well, but still is awaiting laboratory results. On Oct. 11, the state Agriculture Department announced that it had confirmed EHD in farmed deer in Franklin County. EHD has been confirmed in cattle in Franklin, Somerset and Washington counties, but no mortalities were reported in these cases. As of today, there have been no reports of EHD in wild, free-roaming deer in Franklin or Somerset counties.

>>>FULL PRESS RELEASE

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>>>Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease, Cervids - USA - Archive Number 20071014.3366
>>>DEC Investigating Deer Deaths

Grant to Aid Research on Disease Transmission
Colorado State University - coloradoan.com
12 Oct 2007
Area: United States

Scientists Will Look at How Urbanization Spreads Feline Illness

A conservation biologist and a pathologist from Colorado State University will use a $2.3 million National Science Foundation grant to study how urbanization is affecting disease transmission in wild and domestic cats. Kevin Crooks, associate professor in wildlife conservation, and Sue VandeWoude, associate professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology at CSU, are combining expertise to complete a five-year study in Colorado and California. Based on preliminary data, Crooks and VandeWoude believe decreasing habitats because of humans might be a major player in disease transmission. "We are expecting that in these urbanizing areas where there are these hard boundaries of urban edges that there might be more contact between domestic cats, lions and bobcats and perhaps resulting in higher disease patterns," Crooks said.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Dead Fish Victims of Red Tide
Central Florida News 13 - cfnews13.com
12 Oct 2007
Area: Florida United States

A dead fish close to three-feet long washed onto the Beverly Beach Shore in Flagler Beach. The fish is surrounded by about a dozen dead, smaller fish scattered not far away -- the product of red tide. Red tide is a microscopic algae that emits toxins and makes people cough, but has a fatal effect on fish when levels are high enough. Richie Lott, of Georgia, was one of the people fishing at the beach where the fish was found.

>>>FULL ARTICLE AND VIDEO

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>>>Red Tide Suspected off St. Johns