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Wildlife Disease Association - Journal of Wildlife Diseases 46(3) [news release]
The health of wildlife, domestic species and human beings, and the environments that support them (One Health), have been a focus of the Wildlife Disease Association for more than 50 years. The current July issue 46(3) has several articles with significant conservation and wildlife management implications of which the Wildlife Disease Association would like to make you aware.
“Real time PCR detection of Campylobacter spp in free-ranging mountain gorillas (Gorilla berengi berengi)“ by Wittier, Cranfield and Stosskopf describes the testing of a rapid, local, non-invasive molecular assay to detect a bacterium known to cause severe diarrhea in humans and animals.
...A landmark article “Transmission of Mannheimia haemolytica from domestic sheep (Ovis aries) to bighorn sheep (Ovis Canadensis): Unequivocal demonstration with green fluorescent protein tagged organisms”, appears to settle the question of whether pathologic respiratory bacteria from domestic sheep can be transmitted to bighorn sheep as a result of close contact.
...In “Survival of radiomarked mallards in relation to management of avian botulism” Evelsizer et al. found that survival of the marked birds tended to be higher on lakes with lower carcass density, but mallard survival was not consistently greater on lakes where carcasses were removed.
17 August 2010
Anthrax, bison - Canada (13): (NT), susp.
A total of 7 bison carcasses found in the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary are being tested for possible anthrax infection.
Crews found the 7 carcasses 30 kilometres [18.6 miles] northwest of Fort Province, marking the 1st time since 1993 that anthrax could be detected within the borders of the Sanctuary.
Samples have been sent to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency lab in Lethbridge to determine whether the bison had the disease.
58 pilot whales die in NZ beach stranding: rescuers
New Zealand whale rescue volunteers were racing against time Friday to save 15 pilot whales stranded on an isolated northern beach — after rescuers reported 58 of the pod had already died.
Kimberly Muncaster, chief executive of the Project Jonah whale aid group, said the 15 surviving whales were in “fairly poor condition.”
The whales probably stranded during the night, which is why so many died before they were discovered, said Carolyn Smith, the community relations program manager for the Department of Conservation.
OTHER WILDLIFE DISEASE RELATED NEWS
- Novel 'antisense' therapies protect primates from lethal Ebola and Marburg viruses
- Ocean garbage patches are not growing, so where is all that plastic going?
- Huge Oil Plume Floats in the Gulf [video]
- Rabies update - USA (10): August 2010
- Tasmanian Chytrid Management Plan [submitted by the Australian Wildlife Health Network]
- Coral doctor sounds the alarm about more acidic seas
- Researchers monitoring Hawaii coral for bleaching
- Scientists find 10 new coral species in Hawaii
