Wildlife Disease News Digest

'Last wave' for wild golden frog
BBC News - news.bbc.co.uk
02 Feb 2008
Area: Panama

A BBC film crew has captured footage of a rare frog waving, wrestling and courting for the first time.

The Panamanian golden frog communicates with other frogs by semaphore in the form of gentle hand waves. It has evolved the mechanism to signal to rivals and mates above the noise of mountain streams. Shortly after filming for the BBC One series Life In Cold Blood, the frogs had to be rescued from the wild, due to the threat of chytrid fungus. Hilary Jeffkins, senior producer of Life In Cold Blood, said the semaphoring behaviour of the Panamanian golden frog was very unusual. "Normally, frogs would croak to get their message across but it's too noisy," she said. "An extra mechanism they've evolved is to wave to each other."

>>>FULL ARTICLE [includes video]

Yellow fever, monkeys - Argentina: (Misiones), susp. - Archive Number 20080205.0459
ProMED-mail - www.promedmail.org
04 Feb 2008
Area: San Pedro, Argentina

Massive yellow fever [YF] vaccination follows the finding of 14 dead monkeys in the Pinalito Reserve, San Pedro. Investigation has shown it was unlikely the monkeys died of poisoning. A specimen from one of them has been sent to the virus institute in Pergamino; the lab result will be known in 25-30 days. There have been no more monkeys found dead in the last 2 days [31 Jan & 1 Feb 2008].

One monkey died in Colonia Paraiso, only 6 km from the town of San Pedro, causing some alarm. But this may have been a captive monkey that was sick and released by its owner, fearing it had YF. The government has sent 10 000 doses of YF vaccine to San Pedro an 10 000 to Puerto Iguazu. YF vaccination posts have been set up at the entrance to the international bridge linking Argentina with Brazil near the Iguassu Falls, at the hospital in Puerto Iguazu, and in the provincial capital, Posadas; 2000 people have been vaccinated in the last week.

>>>FULL POSTING

Bats in Ulster County affected by large die-off
Daily Freeman - www.dailyfreeman.com
03 Feb 2008
A Zangla
Area: New York and Vermont United States

People are being urged to avoid mines and caves where bats live while an investigation is being conducted to determine what is causing the flying mammals to die off in large numbers. The state Department of Environmental Conservation said last week that thousands of hibernating bats are dying in caves in New York state and Vermont. The die-off prompted an investigation by the state agency along with wildlife agencies and researchers around the country. In Ulster County, a group of endangered Indiana bats has been affected.

The most obvious symptom in the bat deaths is a white fungus encircling the noses of some, but not all, of the bats, state officials said. Called "white nose syndrome," the fungus is believed to be associated with the problem, but it might not contribute to the bats' deaths, officials said. It appears the affected bats deplete their fat reserves months before they normally would emerge from hibernation, and they die as a result, officials said. "What we've seen so far is unprecedented," said Alan Hicks, a bat specialist with the DEC. "Most bat researchers would agree that this is the gravest threats to bats they have ever seen. We have bat researchers, laboratories and caving groups across the country working to understand the cause of the problem and ways to contain it. Until we know more, we are asking people to stay away from known bat caves."

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Progress Being Made On Disease That Kills Fish
CBS4Denver - cbs4denver.com
02 Feb 2008
Area: Colorado United States

Colorado Division Of Wildlife Monitors Poudre River

Ken Kehmeier vividly remembers that day 17 years ago when everything changed - the day whirling disease first was discovered in the Poudre River. Kehmeier, the Colorado Division of Wildlife's fishery biologist for the Poudre, North Platte and Laramie river systems, was doing a routine check at one of six testing sites along the Poudre. The tests previously had been done on an annual basis, but after the tests produced the same negative results year after year, the decision was made in 1988 to test the water every two years. Two years later, when Kehmeier returned to sample the Poudre, tests proved that whirling disease - a potentially devastating malady that can wipe out populations of trout and salmon - had arrived.

"To this day, that bugs me more than anything else in my career," the 22-year DOW veteran said. "I feel like I missed something, and it came back to haunt us." Whirling disease attacks young fish when their skeletons still are cartilage. While the fish don't always die, the parasitic disease often deforms fish and can cause them to display the tail-chasing behavior that gives the disease its name. There are signs that the Poudre -- and the battle against the disease -- is changing.

>>>FULL ARTICLE [includes video]

Mane event: recombination in lion feline immunodeficiency virus
Biomed Central (Posted by Science Centric - www.sciencecentric.com)
05 Feb 2008

Parts of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) isolated from wild lions have undergone substantial genetic recombination, says research published in the online open access journal BMC Genomics. The sequencing of the two full FIV genomes of different lion subtypes shows the importance of whole-genome analysis in understanding complex genetic events. These findings will be relevant to big cat conservation and developing more effective animal models for HIV.

FIV is a member of the lentivirus family of retroviruses, as is HIV. The feline virus causes similar disease progression to HIV in domestic cats, and is used by researchers as an animal model for human disease. FIV also infects a number of other cat species, many of which are endangered. The virulence and pathogenicity of the virus varies between species, but the genetic contribution to this variation is unclear. Full-length viral genome sequences are vital for scientists to understand the extent of genetic involvement yet, until recently, only six species-specific strains of FIV had been sequenced in full: Pallas cat, domestic cat (subtypes A, B and C) and puma (subtypes A and B).

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Salmon Population Declines In California, West Coast
Pacific Fishery Management Council (Posted by Science Daily - www.sciencedaily.com)
04 Feb 2008
Photo courtesy of NOAA
Area: California United States

California Central Valley fall Chinook salmon stocks appear to be undergoing a significant decline, according to Pacific Fishery Management Council Director Donald McIsaac. Although the numbers are currently being verified by the Council, Dr. McIsaac said that if the low abundance is confirmed, all marine and freshwater fisheries impacting this important salmon stock may be affected. The low returns are particularly distressing since this stock has consistently been the healthy “work horse” for salmon fisheries off California and most of Oregon. Not long ago, the Council’s Salmon Technical Team (STT) met to tabulate salmon returns and catches.

Two areas of bad news emerged. First, in 2007 the adult spawning escapement for Sacramento River fall Chinook failed to meet the escapement goal (122,000 - 180,000 adults) for the first time in 15 years. Sacramento River fall Chinook are the largest component of Central Valley Chinook. (The escapement goal, or conservation objective, is the optimal number of adult fish returning to spawn in order to maximize the production of the stock).

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Toward An Effective Treatment For Monkeypox
American Chemical Society (Posted by Science Daily - www.sciencedaily.com)
04 Feb 2008

Researchers in Washington and Oregon report an advance toward developing much-needed new drugs and vaccines for monkeypox. The disease occurs mainly among rodents, monkeys, and other animals in Africa, but has been transmitted to humans resulting in high mortality rates. Although this deadly viral disease rarely occurs naturally in the United States, it is a potential bioterrorism agent. In an article, Richard D. Smith and colleagues note that monkeypox is caused by a virus closely-related to smallpox.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Cited Journal Article
>>>Comparative Proteomics of human Monkeypox and Vaccinia Intracellular Mature and Extracellular Enveloped Virions