Wildlife Disease News Digest

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Fungal Disease Spreads Through Pacific Northwest

A rare and dangerous fungal infection named Cryptococcus gattii has been quietly spreading from British Columbia southward to the U.S. Pacific Northwest. And it's changing as it goes.

Researchers have discovered that a unique strain of the bug has emerged recently in Oregon and already spread widely there, sickening humans and animals.

. . . Researchers have also been struck by the array of different animals species getting infected. Domestic cats and dogs lead the list, but there have been confirmed reports in sheep, goats and horses, in elk and llamas, even in porpoises and dolphins whose infected corpses have washed up on beaches.

NPR - www.npr.org
23 Aug 2010
R Knox
Photo credit: Public Library of Science/Edmond J. Byrnes III

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Wildlife Health Bulletin #2010-03: White-Nose Syndrome: New Locations in Missouri, Tennessee and Quebec

The USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) has detected the genetic signature of the fungus Geomyces destructans, the likely cause of white-nose syndrome (WNS), in skin samples collected from little brown bats submitted for testing from a cave in Pike County, Missouri and from White Oak Blowhole Cave in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

In addition, the Quebec Minister of Natural Resources has announced that WNS was detected in the Outaouais region of Quebec, and this finding was confirmed by the NWHC.

The Missouri and Great Smoky Mountain National Park sites are currently considered “presumptive positive” for WNS because the fungus was visible on the skin of bats and was confirmed by a molecular test (PCR), but there was no microscopic evidence of clinical fungal infection in the bats examined.

USGS NWHC - www.nwhc.usgs.gov
20 Apr 2010

>>>FULL BULLETIN

Related News
>>>Illinois caves being closed to hamper spread of fungus deadly to bats
>>>White Nose Syndrome.mpg

New brucellosis 'hot spots' found in Yellowstone area

The animal disease brucellosis is emerging in new "hot spots" around Yellowstone National Park, according to new research that could complicate efforts to control transmissions of the disease to cattle.

Feeding grounds where food is left for elk as well as herds of bison inside the park have long been considered the main sources of brucellosis, which causes pregnant animals to abort their young.

But Paul Cross with the U.S. Geological Survey said a third source is now emerging: Blood tests indicate large elk herds living far from the feeding grounds have brucellosis exposure rates ranging from 10 percent to 30 percent.

Salt Lake City Tribune - www.sltrib.com (Source: Associated Press)
24 Apr 2010
M Brown

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Reported Wildlife Mortality Events to the USGS National Wildlife Health Center Updated

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 April 23, 2010 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.

USGS National Wildlife Health Center
26 Apr 2010
Area: United States

>>>Updated Wildlife Mortality Event Table

OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
Photo credit: Maricopa.com