TOP STORIES
'Deadly Dozen' Reports Diseases Worsened By Climate Change
ScienceDaily - www.sciencedaily.com (Wildlife Conservation Society)
07 Oct 2008
Image courtesy of Thomas Breuer/Wildlife Conservation Society-Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Health experts from the Wildlife Conservation Society have released a report that lists 12 pathogens that could spread into new regions as a result of climate change, with potential impacts to both human and wildlife health and global economies. Called The Deadly Dozen: Wildlife Diseases in the Age of Climate Change, the new report provides examples of diseases that could spread as a result of changes in temperatures and precipitation levels. The best defense, according to the report's authors, is a good offense in the form of wildlife monitoring to detect how these diseases are moving so health professionals can learn and prepare to mitigate their impact.
Researchers cannot stop mystery cancer decimating Tasmanian devils
Times Online - www.timesonline.co.uk
07 Oct 2008
Area: Tasmania, Australia
Tasmanian devils have had a rough ride since the mid-1990s, when a mysterious cancer began killing them off in droves. A once common if unusually aggressive creature in Tasmania, Australia, it has alarmed conservationists with a slump in numbers of 64 per cent over the past 11 years, and has been reclassified from least concern to endangered. There are still an estimated 20,000 to 50,000 left in the wild, but their decline is sufficiently rapid for there to be fears that the species will follow the passenger pigeon, which was once counted in the millions, into oblivion. Devil facial tumour disease is the only cancer that is known to be infectious among mammals.
Bird Diversity Lessens Human Exposure To West Nile VirusScienceDaily - www.sciencedaily.com (Source: Washington University in St. Louis)
06 Oct 2008
Image courtesy of Washington University in St. Louis
This one's for the birds. A study by biologists at Washington University in St. Louis shows that the more diverse a bird population is in an area, the less chance humans have of exposure to West Nile Virus (WNV). Now, let's hear it for the birds. "The bottom line is that where there are more bird species in your backyard, you have much lower risk of contracting West Nile fever," said Brian Allan, doctoral candidate in biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. "The mechanisms are similar to those described for the ecology of Lyme disease. Most birds are poor reservoirs for West Nile Virus, and so mosquito bites taken on them are 'wasted' from the perspective of the virus.
Reported Wildlife Mortality Events to the USGS National Wildlife Health Center UpdatedUSGS National Wildlife Health Center
07 Oct 2008
Area: United States
USGS and a network of partners across the country work on documenting wildlife mortality events in order to provide timely and accurate information on locations, species and causes of death. This information was updated on Oct 06, 2008 on the USGS National Wildlife Health Center web page, New and Ongoing Wildlife Mortality Events Nationwide. Quarterly Mortality Reports are also available from this page. These reports go back to 1995.
Honolulu Advertiser - www.honoluluadvertiser.com
06 Oct 2008
Image courtesy of Courtesy of National Marine Fisheries Service
Area: Waimanalo, Hawaii, USA - Map It
Necropsy findings into what caused the death of a monk seal pup found over the weekend in Waimanalo were inconclusive, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service announced today. RW18, nicknamed "Hoku," was born in May on the north shore of O'ahu. The carcass was relatively decomposed, so drowning or another cause of death could neither be ruled out nor confirmed, officials said. Some samples were taken for analysis for pathogens or toxins. The seal appeared to have been in "good body condition" when it died, NOAA said.
Rabbits hit by deadly myxomatosis outbreakEvening Courier - www.halifaxcourier.co.uk
07 Oct 2008
J Shute
Area: Calderdale, England, UK - Map It
AN outbreak of a deadly plague has gripped Calderdale's rabbit population. According to a Mytholmroyd vetinary surgery there has been a huge increase in the number of rabbits suffering from the fatal disease myxomatosis in the past few weeks. Dramatic increases in the disease have already been reported across the country recently, but it is said to be the first signs of an epidemic coming to Calderdale. "We have had a big jump in the number of reports," said Clare Wright, who has been a vet at the Mytholmroyd branch of West Mount Vets for the past 20 years, "There is certainly an epidemic coming.
OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
Pictured: Extinction Crisis Worsens; "Dow Jones" Approach Touted 
U.S. City Dwellers Flock to Raising Chickens
Military veterinarians continue health and safety projects in Iraq
Bovine tuberculosis. 146 animals to be cut down in a breeding (translated from French using Yahoo Babel/original article link included)
Computers + Biology = Virus Detector
Will GE Vaccine Devastate Native Species?
300 Penguins airlifted back home
Bald Eagle Found Dead In Mequon - Mequon, Wisconsin, USA - Map It
WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED PUBLICATIONS
Indiana Wildlife Disease News - Stories on Newcastle, Botulism, and CWD
August 2008 Issue
Diseases of Aquatic Organisms
Volume 81, Number 03
Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology - Ahead of Print
Articles of note
- Toxicological Responses of Red-Backed Salamanders ( Plethodon cinereus ) to
- Soil Exposures of Copper
- Heavy Metal Levels in Marine Mollusks from Areas With, or Without, Mining
- Activities Along the Gulf of California, Mexico
Highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1), sub-Saharan Africa.
Emerg Infect Dis. 2008 Nov; [Epub ahead of print][pdf][free full-text
available]
AA Owoade et al.
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