Wildlife Disease News Digest

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Experts predict next epidemic will start in animals
USA Today - www.usatoday.com
22 Oct 2008
S Sternberg
Photo courtesy of P Parks/AFP

A report by the non-profit Trust for America's Health, to be released next week, asserts that infectious diseases from the developing world are anything but "a back-burner concern." The report, "Germs Go Global: Why Emerging Infectious Diseases Are a Threat to America," cites National Intelligence Estimates that conclude outbreaks of new and resurgent infectious diseases, many of which "originate overseas," kill more than 170,000 people in the USA each year.

...How to avert the next big one? That's one of many questions on the agenda this month at a joint meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in Washington, D.C. To get answers, public health experts are expanding research into how outbreaks get their start. A study in the journal Nature in February offers a critical clue. Researchers analyzed 335 outbreaks worldwide between 1940 and 2004. More than 60% of epidemics, including HIV and SARS, began when a germ leapt from wildlife into humans.

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West Nile virus continues to spread
The Village News - www.thevillagenews.com
23 Oct 2008
Area: San Diego County, California - Map It

County Vector Control officials announced that during the week of October 6-12 alone, 17 dead birds and one batch of mosquitoes tested positive for West Nile virus (WNV). No new cases in humans or horses have been confirmed for that week. The mosquitoes and dead birds, including 13 American crows, two Western scrub jays, one Cooper’s hawk and one great horned owl, were found in Bay Park, Clairemont, El Cajon, Escondido, Fallbrook, Jamul, La Jolla, La Mesa, Mira Mesa, Ramona, Santa Ysabel, Torrey Hills and Vista.

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Possible Cases of Hemorrhagic Disease Found in Arkansas
Buckmasters - www.buckmasters.com (From Arkansas Game and Fish Commission)
24 Oct 2008
Area: Arkansas, USA - Map It

Hunters and landowners in Lawrence and Sharp counties have reported some deer and livestock dying from a possible outbreak of Hemorrhagic Disease. "I was approached by a sportsman on Saturday at Ravenden who had found five deer dead around a spring on the property he hunts on the Lawrence/Sharp County Line in September," said James Foster, area biologist for Big Lake Wildlife Management Area. "To do any type of testing and confirm the case, we would need to have fresh carcasses, but the symptoms described sounded like it was probably HD." "A landowner in Lawrence County reported 20 deer on his property," said Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Deer Program Assistant Coordinator Cory Gray. "He also reported 19 of his goats had died."

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Koi Herpes Virus likely culprit in massive carp die-off
Lake County Record-Bee - www.record-bee.com
23 Oct 2008
T Knight
Area: Clear Lake, California - Map It

The mystery surrounding the recent carp die-off at Clear Lake has been solved. According to Department of Fish and Game fishery biologist Jay Rowan, the results of laboratory tests show the carp died from a virus called "Koi Herpes Virus." It's a virus that's common to Koi fish, which are members of the carp family and often used in backyard ponds and aquariums. Rowan said he suspects the virus got into Clear Lake by someone releasing Koi fish into the lake. Since carp often swim in small schools, the virus probably spread rapidly. The good news is that other species of fish in the lake don't get the virus.

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OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
Photo courtesy of The Week in Wildlife - www.guardian.co.uk