Wildlife Disease News Digest

TOP STORIES

Australian Volunteers Rescue 11 Beached Whales, But Many More Die
Voice of America - www.voanews.com
24 Nov 2008
Photo credit: Associated Press
Area: Tasmania, Australia - Map It

Australian scientists are using satellite technology to track 11 whales that survived a mass stranding in the southern state of Tasmania over the weekend. The long-finned pilot whales were the only survivors of a pod of 64 found beached near the small town of Stanley. From Sydney, Phil Mercer reports. Volunteers spent the weekend tending to the stranded whales, which had beached themselves near Stanley on Tasmania's north-west coast. Fifty-three of the large marine mammals died but rescuers did manage to save 11 others.

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>>>VIDEO

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>>>Vancouver scientists unravel dead seal mystery - Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada - Map It

>>>Entangled dolphin found, rescued

Scientists discover 21st century plague
EurekAlert - www.eurekalert.org (Source: Society for General Microbiology)
24 Nov 2008

Bacteria that can cause serious heart disease in humans are being spread by rat fleas, sparking concern that the infections could become a bigger problem in humans. Research published in the December issue of the Journal of Medical Microbiology suggests that brown rats, the biggest and most common rats in Europe, may now be carrying the bacteria. Since the early 1990s, more than 20 species of Bartonella bacteria have been discovered. They are considered to be emerging zoonotic pathogens, because they can cause serious illness in humans worldwide from heart disease to infection of the spleen and nervous system.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Cited Journal Article
>>>Isolation of Bartonella species from rodents in Taiwan including a strain closely related to ‘Bartonella rochalimae’ from Rattus norvegicus. J Med Microbiol. 2008 Dec; 57(Pt 12): 1496-1501.

Researcher discovers corals resist disease
Physorg.com - www.physorg.com
21 Nov 2008

In recent years, tropical coral reefs have become drastically altered by disease epidemics. In a new study published by PLoS ONE, lead author Steven V. Vollmer, assistant professor of biology at the Marine Science Center at Northeastern University, finds that acroporid corals listed on the US Endangered Species List due to epidemics of White Band Disease can recover because up to six percent of the remaining corals are naturally resistant to the disease. This is the first evidence of natural disease resistance in tropical reef corals.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Cited Journal Article
>>>Natural Disease Resistance in Threatened Staghorn Corals. PLoS ONE. 2008. 3(11): e3718.

Bat Disease May Be In N.H.
WCAX-TV 3 News - www.wcax.com
21 Nov 2008
K Harsha
Area: New Hampshire, United States

New Hampshire wildlife officials are trying to determine whether a deadly disease has reached the state's bat population. Whitenose syndrome has killed thousands of bats in Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. In some caves, up to 97 percent of bats have died from the disease. So far it hasn't been detected in New Hampshire, but wildlife officials have set up a fund to raise money to try to study the problem.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

WDIN Highlights - October/November 2008
Volume 3, Issue 10/11

In this issue:

Main Article - Demystifying Web 2.0: WDIN Shares Ideas at the Organization of Fish and Wildlife Information Managers Annual Conference/ pg. 1-4
Upcoming Wildlife Disease Related Events/ pg. 1
Side Lights - OFWIM: Conservation through Technology and Information Exchange/ pg. 2
In the Spotlight - NBII Metadata Clearinghouse: A Searchable Data Warehouse/ pg. 3-4
New Resources Added to the WDIN Website/ pg. 4

>>>HIGHLIGHTS BULLETIN

OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH NEWS
Photo credit: David Tipling/Image Bank/Getty