Wildlife Disease News Digest

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Researchers Discover Possible Cure For Fungal Bat Disease

Researchers at the New York State Department of Health have identified a handful of drugs and antiseptics that could help bats fight off the fungal disease which killed more than a million of them throughout the United States, according to a weekend report from the Associated Press (AP).

The disease, which has infected bats from New York to Tennessee to Oklahoma, is known as white-nose syndrome, AP Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione reported on Sunday.

According to Jeremy Coleman of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, it has "completely decimated" the population of the little brown bat. "We're down to 3 percent of the original population," in some locations, he told the AP.

RedOrbit - www.redorbit.com

13 Sep 2010

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The Heat Kills Caribbean Coral

The waters of the Caribbean are hotter than ever before and corals are bleaching the region and begin to die, say experts.

The phenomenon is seen mostly in the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean, said Mark Eakin, coordinator of Coral Reef Watch program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, for its acronym in English).

The temperature is higher than in 2005 when a major bleaching event affected much of the Caribbean.

Hoy Digital - www.hoy.com

12 Sep 2010

S Leahy

Photo credit: Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, Australia

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Diagnosis of Tb in wild pig a 'wake-up call'

The Animal Health Board says the diagnosis of tuberculosis in a wild pig shot in the Mohaka Forest in northern Hawke's Bay is a wake-up call for farmers.

A regional co-ordinator, Terry Hynes, says the discovery came in the course of the board's regular survey of pigs, in an area where there are currently no cattle herds infected with bovine Tb.

Radio New Zealand News - www.radionz.co.nz

13 Sep 2010

Hawke's Bay, New Zealand - Map It

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Freshwater toxins to blame for sea otter deaths

In a paper published today (Sept. 10) in PLoS ONE, the researchers reported that the deaths of at least 21 California sea otters (a federally listed threatened species) were linked to the toxin, called microcystin.

First author Melissa Miller, a senior wildlife veterinarian at the DFG Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center in Santa Cruz, also presented the findings at the California and the World Ocean Conference in San Francisco today (Sept. 10).

The toxin is produced by a type of cyanobacteria (also known as "blue-green algae") called Microcystis. Warm, nutrient-rich water conditions favor large blooms of Microcystis, which can form thick green mats on the surface of the water.

Physorg.com - www.physorg.com

13 Sep 2010

Location: Monterey Bay, Monterey County, California, USA - Map It