Top Stories
Live CWD test in elk shows promise
JAVMA News – www.avma.org
15 Jul 2008 (journal date)
Researchers in May completed their third year of evaluating and validating the first live rectal-tissue biopsy method for detecting chronic wasting disease in captive and wild elk. More than 1,500 biopsy specimens have been collected from captive elk in Colorado, 15 of which the new method found to test positive for CWD. Compared with proven postmortem diagnostic tests, the new test appears to be nearly as accurate, according to the Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which is conducting the research along with the Colorado State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.
Other Prion Disease News
Aussie Platypuses Suffer Illness [Video]
National Geographic News - news.nationalgeographic.com
01 July 2008
Australian scientists are conducting field studies to track a fungal infection that has been killing Tasmanian platypuses for more than 25 years.
Fish death in oil patch
Slave River Journal – www.srj.ca
02 Jul 2008
G Zarate
Location: Athabasca, Alberta, Canada - Map It
Alberta Environment is investigating an unexplained fish die-off in a reservoir in the Athabasca oil patch. The reservoir was built in the 1970s to divert the waters of Beaver Creek away from a nearby Syncrude oil sands mine, which is no longer active.
“There is no evidence that the incident was caused by contamination from that site,” said Alberta Environment spokesperson Cheryl Robb.
Other Fish Health News
Squirrels test positive for plague
SignOnSanDiego - weblog.signonsandiego.com
01 Jul 2008
Location: Doane Valley Campground, California, USA - Map It
County health officials say blood samples from two ground squirrels on Palomar Mountain have tested positive for plague. The squirrels were found at the Doane Valley Campground. Plague was found at the same park last year, according to the county.
West Nile: On The Move: A Wet Spring Could Mean A Perfect Storm Of Mosquitoes, Spreading The Virus Across The Country
Newsweek – www.newsweek.com
23 Jun 2008
M Carmichael
. . . The heavy rains quenching the drought-starved Midwest and deluging the Northeast are leaving pools of standing water, ideal nurseries for mosquitoes. The Southwest, too, is in trouble. If West Nile brings down its populations of predatory birds, which usually keep rodent populations low, the rat-borne plague and hantaviruses could spread unchecked there in what Mary Pearl, president of the Wildlife Trust, calls a "triple whammy."
Even Alaska is worried--cold has proved to be no barrier for the disease, which has moved into Canada, and migrating birds may carry it north after making pit stops in infected areas. Hawaii isn't safe, either, though the "bird" that could bring West Nile to the islands is actually an airplane, ferrying mosquitoes along with honeymooners. (The mosquito that infected the California woman may have hitchhiked the same way.)
Other West Nile Virus News
Other Wildlife Health Related News
Photo Courtesy of NOAA
NOAA and Partners Free Juvenile Dolphin from Life-Threatening Debris- Disappearing bee colonies hurt entire food chain, experts say
- Passports for penguins
- Tigers Disappear From Himalayan Refuge
- A New Twist in Penguins’ Already Uncertain Future
- Population Of Threatened Otters Seems To Be Leveling
Feeding birds in our towns and cities: a global research opportunity
Journal of Avian Biology. 2008 May; 39 (3): 265-271 [online abstract only]
DN Jones and SJ Reynolds
Evolution of feline immunodeficiency virus in Felidae: Implications for human health and wildlife ecology
Vet Immunol Immunopathol. 2008 May 15;123(1-2):32-44. Epub 2008 Jan 19. [online abstract only]
J Pecon-Slattery et al.
Chytridiomycosis-mediated expansion of Bufo bufo in a montane area of Central Spain: an indirect effect of the disease
Diversity and Distributions. 2008 Jul; 14 (4): 637-643 JUL 2008
J Bosch and PA Rincon
No comments:
Post a Comment