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National HPAI Early Detection Data System (HEDDS) Update
NBII Wildlife Disease Information Node
05 Nov 2008
Area: United States
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Early Detection Data System (HEDDS) is an avian influenza data sharing repository. NBII and a network of partners across the nation have created HEDDS to hold data from different surveillance strategies and to provide a comprehensive view of national sampling efforts.
Recent HEDDS Activity
- Nov 3, 2008: 2,187 samples and tests were added to HEDDS for 2008. Total is now 54,461.
- Oct 31, 2008: The LPAI H5N1 table has been updated with information on results from a sample collected from a Mallard in Saginaw, MI on Sep 29, 2008.
- Oct 31, 2008: 2,044 samples and tests were added to HEDDS for 2008. Total is now 52,274.
Experts Identify Fungus Suspected In Bat Die-OffNPR - www.npr.org
31 Oct 2008
D Charles
Image courtesy of A Hicks
In the northeastern United States, bats have been dying by the thousands, struck down by a strange ailment called "white-nose syndrome." A mysterious, fuzzy white fungus appears on the noses and skin of afflicted hibernating bats, which then often starve to death. Alan Hicks, a bat specialist with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, alerted the world to white-nose syndrome in early 2007 after hearing reports of dead bats in caves near Albany.
>>>FULL ARTICLE
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10 Studies That Revealed the Great Global Amphibian Die-Off—and Some Possible SolutionsDiscover - discovermagazine.com
4 Nov 2008
J Pepitone
Photo courtesy of iStockphoto
Amphibian species have been facing a steep decline for decades, in large part because of a fungus, climate change, and environment disruption. As many as one-third of the world’s 6,300 amphibian species are threatened with extinction, and researchers fear their loss could wreak havoc on our ecosystem and food webs. Here are landmark studies that have defined the problems and—we hope—will help humans to figure out how to save their froggy friends.
Death By Hyperdisease: How DNA Detective Work Explains Extinction Of Christmas Island's Native RatsScienceDaily - www.sciencedaily.com
4 Nov 2008
Image courtesy of P. Wynne/patriciawynne.com
It took less than a decade for native rats to become extinct on the Indian Ocean's previously uninhabited Christmas Island once Eurasian black rats jumped ship onto the island at the turn of the 20th century. But this story is more than the typical tale of direct competition. According to new genetic research published in PLoS One on November 5, black rats carried a pathogen that exterminated two endemic species, Rattus macleari and R. nativitatis. This study is the first to demonstrate extinction in a mammal because of disease, supporting the hypothesis proposed a decade ago that "hyperdisease conditions"—unusually rapid mortality from which a species never recovers—can lead to extinction.
Horror Show: There Goes the NeighborhoodAudubon Magazine - www.audubonmagazine.com
December 2008 Issue
TE Nickens
Photo courtesy of R Haviv
...These birds are more valuable than they’re given credit for. “Vultures are one of the better disease control mechanisms out there,” says Christopher Brand, research chief for the USGS National Wildlife Health Center, in Madison, Wisconsin. “They check the flow of infectious wildlife diseases such as botulism and possibly anthrax.” (These birds evolved with the ability to metabolize natural biotoxins found in decaying flesh.) And given the way vultures use their sense of smell, they can find carcasses that go undetected by other scavengers, such as opossums, crows, and magpies.
Achoo! Who knew? Pesky raccoons can catch and spread the flu
Canadian Press - canadianpress.google.com
5 Nov 2008
Who knew? Raccoons can catch the flu. New research shows the pesky critters - called the animal world's "Typhoid Mary" by one of the study's authors - can catch and spread both human and avian strains of influenza. Lead author Jeffrey Hall isn't suggesting the raccoon you have to shoo away from your garbage bin is likely to infect you with the flu. But his findings point to the possibility that raccoons play a role in the emergence of new strains of influenza, helping bird viruses adapt to be able to infect mammals. That process, which involves the swapping of genes among viruses, is called reassortment and it is one of the ways a strain capable of causing a flu pandemic could arise.
OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
- Malaysia seizes rare turtle eggs
- Recipe for rescuing our reefs
- Beekeepers protest over hive deaths
- Bubonic Plague Outbreak in Uganda Kills Three, Monitor Reports
- Ship speed limit protects Georgia coast whales
- Social Media for Scientists
- Beached dolphin dies
WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED PUBLICATIONS
Journal of Wildlife Management - Nov 2008
Volume 72, Issue 8
Genetic evidence of intercontinental movement of avian influenza in a migratory bird: the northern pintail (Anas acuta)
Molecular Ecology. 2008 Oct 24; 17(21): 4754-62 [online abstract only]
AV Koehler et al.
Bat White-Nose Syndrome: An Emerging Fungal Pathogen?
Science. 2008 Oct 30; [Epub ahead of print]
DS Blehert et al
Waterfowl—The Missing Link in Epidemic and Pandemic Cholera Dissemination?
PLoS Pathog. 2008; 4(10): e1000173.
M Halpern et al.
Emerging Infectious Diseases - Ahead of Print Articles of note
- Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus (H5N1) in Red Foxes Fed Infected Bird Carcasses, L.A. Reperant et al.
- Influenza Infection in Wild Raccoons, J.S. Hall et al.
- Novel Borna Virus in Psittacine Birds with Proventricular Dilatation Disease, K.S. Honkavuori et al.
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