Wildlife Disease News Digest

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Study: Global Coral Crisis Is In Full Bloom [includes audio]
NPR - www.npr.org
11 Jul 2008
J Nielsen
Photo courtesy of Cathie Page

Coral reefs around the world are in bad shape these days. But a new research paper in the journal Science says their problems may be getting worse. The paper says as much as a third of the world's coral species may now be headed toward extinction, thanks to problems ranging from destructive fishing boats to ocean waters warmed by global climate change.

Coral experts say these reefs hold 25 percent of the world's marine species. That list includes sponges, lobsters, turtles, shrimp, sharks and commercially important fish. Philip Munday, a reef expert at Australia's James Cook University, says that's why coral reefs are often called "the rain forests of the ocean."

>>>FULL ARTICLE

More Coral Reef News
>>>Coral Grief: Warming Climate Threatens Reef Destruction

Bird flu occurs in Tra Vinh
Nhan Dan - www.nhandan.com.vn/english
7 Jul 2008
Area: Tra Vinh Province, Vietnam - Map It

Bird flu has occurred in Tra Vinh province, announced the Veterinary Department. The department said that ducks died in Phuong Thach commune, Cang Long district, Tra Vinh province, from June 24.

By July 4, around 1,000 unvaccinated ducks had died. Their samples were tested positive to H5N1 virus. The local veterinary service culled the ducks.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

State deer disease-free
Worcester Telegram - www.telegram.com
11 Jul 2008
MA Magiera

For the sixth consecutive year, the state’s deer herd has been given a clean bill of health with no evidence of chronic wasting disease after testing in a nationwide monitoring program.

A federally certified veterinary diagnostic laboratory has indicated that all the brain, lymph node, and tonsil samples taken from members of the deer family during last fall’s hunting season tested negative for CWD, according to the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. In late 2007 and early 2008, biologists collected 487 samples from hunter-harvested and car-killed deer from across the state for CWD monitoring and testing.

For the second year, at least one moose sample from a road kill was submitted because CWD was found in Colorado moose killed during 2006. The Massachusetts samples were negative.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

UT receives $209,126 to study deadly fish disease: Virus threatens health of Lake Erie species
Toledo Blade - toledoblade.com
11 Jul 2008
S Pollick

The Lake Erie Center at the University of Toledo has been awarded a $209,126 federal grant to study a deadly fish disease that has threatened the health of many species of Great Lakes fish. The grant, announced yesterday by U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo), will fund a two-year study into viral hemorrhagic septicemia, or VHS.

It is an infectious viral disease present in several species of fish in the Great Lakes, including all-important walleye and yellow perch. VHS has been responsible for several fish kills in the Great Lakes, including a kill of thousands of freshwater drum, or sheepshead, and yellow perch in central Lake Erie in the summer of 2006.

It is regarded by government biologists as the most dangerous fish virus in the world, though it poses no harm to humans.For the first time, VHS recently was confirmed in fish beyond the Lake Erie watershed in inland Ohio - among muskellunge at Clear Fork Reservoir near Mansfield.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Winnebago County Bird Tests Positive for West Nile Virus
wifr.com - www.wifr.com
10 Jul 2008

Dr. Damon T. Arnold, state public health director, today announced the first birds testing positive for West Nile virus this year were found in Winnebago County. “These positive results remind us that we need to protect ourselves against mosquitoes, especially with all the recent flooding,” said Dr. Arnold. “As the waters from the flooding recede and pools of water are left behind, we’ll start seeing more and more mosquitoes that carry West Nile virus.

I urge everyone to get rid of any stagnant water around their homes to reduce the number of mosquitoes, and to make sure you wear insect repellent to protect yourself.” The Winnebago County Health Department notified the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) of the positive crows collected on June 24 in Rockford. Mosquito batches testing positive for West Nile virus have been reported in Adams, DuPage, Cook, Jackson, St. Clair and Tazewell counties.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Other West Nile Virus News
>>>Bird positive for West Nile

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