Wildlife Disease News Digest

TOP STORIES

Southeast songbirds dying from salmonella
AccessNorthGa.com - www.accessnorthga.com (Source: Associated Press)
13 Mar 2009
Area: United States - Map It

Mass deaths of songbirds in the Southeast have been attributed to salmonella, but tests show the strain is different from one that has sickened people. Calls have been coming in for weeks about large numbers of dead American goldfinches, purple finches and pine siskins, said Scott Dykes, a Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency biologist. Necropsies show the birds died of salmonella, a common disease in the species. Kevin Keele, a wildlife pathologist at the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study in Athens, Ga., said Friday that salmonella is not uncommon in birds.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

ISU taking donations to combat bat disease
Banner Graphic - www.bannergraphic.com
16 Mar 2009
M Ward

. . . The ISU Bat Center is one of three units collecting funds to help with the research. "If anybody wants to contribute, they can send money to the ISU Foundation/White Nose Syndrome. We have collected about $20,000 so far and have dispersed about half of it. We sent $4,720 for a refrigeration unit for the National Wildlife Health Center to study fungi in relation to the bats, and $5,000 to design a low-cost counter to count bats as they enter or leave caves," said Whitaker.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Reported Wildlife Mortality Events to the USGS National Wildlife Health Center Updated
USGS National Wildlife Health Center
16 Mar 2009
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 Mar 13, 2009 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.

>>>Updated Wildlife Mortality Event Table

State to test fruit bats for Ebola Reston
BusinessWorld Online - www.bworldonline.com
14 Mar 2009
NJ Morales
Area: Philippines

. . . In a separate interview, FAO country representative Kazuyuki Tsurumi said the test on fruit bats is one of the recommendations of international experts after a 10-day mission to monitor government efforts to contain Ebola Reston. Mr. Tsurumi said fruit bats were suspected as carriers of the lethal ebola strains. Ebola Reston, which is only found in the Philippines, had been confined to monkeys and the latest detection is the first time it has jumped species. Soe Nyunt-U, country representative of the WHO, earlier said they are suspecting fruit bats as the carriers of the virus. He added that the Health, Agriculture and Environment departments would also study the virus’s nature and habitat.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Related News
>>>Philippines puts more hog farms under surveillance for Ebola-Reston virus

National HPAI Early Detection Data System (HEDDS) Update
NBII Wildlife Disease Information Node
16 Mar 2009
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

Mar 13, 2009: 360 samples and tests were added to HEDDS for 2008. Total is now 77,769.
Mar 6, 2009: 216 samples and tests were added to HEDDS for 2008. Total is now 77,409.
Feb 26, 2009: 133 samples and tests were added to HEDDS for 2008. Total is now 77,193.

>>>HEDDS' LPAI H5N1 Results Table
>>>For more about HEDDS

OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
Image credit: Raincoast Conservation - www.raincoast.org