Wildlife Disease News Digest

Recent Rabies Cases Raises Concerns Of More To Come
www.tricities.com
4 Apr 2008
D McCown
Area: Sullivan County, Tennessee, USA

Rabies cases are showing up in greater than usual numbers this year, and some officials are concerned the deadly virus will be an even greater threat this summer."We haven’t had that many in the past, but for some reason this year, we’ve had more that’s been tested positive," said Steve Ward, animal control manager and supervisor for Sullivan County, Tenn.

"It’s going to be a bigger threat ... the incidence that has occurred so close together, it looks like it’s going to be on the rise." Ward said with two cases confirmed a mile apart in Bluff City, the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office actually did a reverse 911 call to residents alerting them to avoid raccoons, the main carriers of the disease, and to vaccinate their pets.

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Going batty
The Scientist - www.thescientist.com
4 Apr 2008
B Borrell

...When I visit him in late November, Crameri had just exposed half a dozen flying foxes to the virus that causes SARS. The hope is that this tricky experiment will shed light on a molecular receptor that SARS seems to be using to get inside cells. If this hunch about receptors is correct, then knowing which bats possess the susceptible receptor could guide the ongoing hunt for the pathogen's reservoir among hundreds of bat species (including relatives of flying foxes) caught and traded by locals in southeast Asia and China.

But if a glove is punctured or the air supply slips off, Crameri would have to camp out in a quarantine unit for two weeks — an event that's happened only once in the 20-year history of the lab. "You can't afford to be frustrated," he says.

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Rash of skunk deaths in Redding proving to be a mystery
The Sacramento Bee - Sacbee.com
4 Apr 2008
B Lindelof
Area: Redding, California, USA

Rabies and distemper have been ruled out, but experts have not solved the mystery of Redding's dead skunks. About 60 dead or dying skunks -- and a fox and a raccoon -- have been found in Redding since mid-February. Having ruled out distemper and rabies, University of California, Davis, experts are now looking at toxic substances or parasites as the cause of the animal deaths.

To get to the bottom of what is killing the skunks, local animal control officials are working with the state Department of Fish and Game and experts from UC Davis' Center for Vectorborne Diseases. "It's important to identify what is causing this unusual die-off, because the skunk can be a sentinel species that often alerts us to environmental health problems," veterinary researcher Janet Foley said in a news release.

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USDA Amends Its Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia Federal Order
USDA APHIS Press Release
2 Apr 2008

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has amended its Federal Order on viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) to require permits before allowing species of live non-salmonid fish from VHS-affected Canadian provinces to be imported into the United States for direct slaughter.

As APHIS gathers more information about the disease, a federal regulatory program is put in place that allows for testing and certification prior to the interstate movement of fish susceptible to VHS. The original Federal Order was issued in response to the rapid spread of VHS in the Great Lakes region and the potential impact of the disease on a growing number of fish species, which includes species of fish raised commercially in the United States.

>>>FULL PRESS RELEASE

State gets $3.5M to fight bovine TB
Traverse City Record-Eagle - www.record-eagle.com
4 Apr 2008
S McWhirter
Area: Michigan, USA

A chunk of federal change will be used to fight bovine tuberculosis in Michigan, particularly the northeastern region of the Lower Peninsula. U.S. Department of Agriculture officials said $16.8 million will be spent to continue efforts to eradicate bovine TB in three states, including California, Michigan and Minnesota.

The money will cover costs to destroy known TB-infected cattle herds and to enhance disease surveillance in both cattle and free-ranging white-tailed deer in Minnesota and Michigan. Michigan's share of the money is about $3.5 million, said Rachel Iadicicco, USDA spokeswoman. State officials don't yet know how the federal cash will be lumped for use between livestock and wildlife programs, said John Tilden, TB eradication program director with the state Department of Agriculture.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

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