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TOP STORIES
Virus That Twists Snakes Into Knots Revealed: Ebola-like virus may be result of two viruses merging
Scientists have finally found the cause of a mysterious disease that makes snakes tie themselves up into knots, stare off into space, and waste away—the reptiles are infected with an Ebola-like virus, a new study says.
The fatal condition known as inclusion body disease (IBD) was first diagnosed in snakes, particularly pythons and boa constrictors, in the 1980s.
Snakes diagnosed with IBD will often exhibit behavioral abnormalities, including an inability to flip over when turned on their backs and "stargazing," which involves staring off into space and weaving their heads back and forth as if drunk. They are also more likely to contract other diseases, such as bacterial infections in their mouths.
Scientists have long suspected a virus was behind IBD because the disease can be transmitted between snakes and is characterized by the buildup of proteins in cells, a feature of a number of viral diseases, Stenglein said.
But direct proof that a viral agent is responsible has been lacking-until now.
National Geographic - news.nationalgeographic.com
22 Aug 2012
K Than
Epidemic disease in Double-crested Cormorants in Saskatchewan
An outbreak of a virus infection of the brain and spinal cord (encephalitis and myelitis) occurred in August 2012 at a large colony of Double-crested Cormorants (DCCO) on Doré Lake in the southern boreal forest of Saskatchewan.
The cause of the outbreak was avian paramyxovirus-1 (APMV-1), a virus that occurs in DCCO across their range in North America and regularly results in mortality of nearly full grown young-of-the year DCCO close to the end of the nesting season.
Healthy Wildlife - www.healthywildlife.ca
17 Aug 2012
Location: Doré Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada - Map It
OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
Courtesy of The Guardian feature, Week in Wildlife- Eight dolphins strand along Cape Cod coast [Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts, USA - Map It ]
- How many people does it take to write a bestselling textbook? [Article on The Wildlife Society’s The Wildlife Techniques Manual]
- Algae blooms close Dunton, Holland State Park beaches[Ottawa Co., Michigan, USA]
- Reporting on the health of Australia's frogs and reptiles [audio broadcast][Courtesy of Australian Wildlife Health Network]
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| Giraffes at ZSL London zoo |
- As nation suffers West Nile outbreak, Alaska hasn't seen any reports of infection [Alaska, USA]
- Bird with West Nile virus found in San Luis Obispo [San Luis Obispo, California, USA - Map It ]
- Brentwood: West Nile-infected birds found, fogging planned [See Disease News Map for locations of positive bird cases][Contra Costa Co., California, USA]
- First West Nile virus-positive crow in Alameda County found in Livermore [Livermore, California, USA - Map It ]
- Bats threatened by climate change
- Drought Increases Anthrax Transmission [Colorado and Texas, USA]
- Massachusetts Butterflies Move North as Climate Warms [USA]
- GAME COMMISSION LOOKING INTO DEER DEATHS IN SOUTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA [See Disease News Map for locations of EHD cases in deer][Pennsylvania, USA]
- EHD confirmed in 15 Michigan countries [Michigan, USA]
- Increasing hemorrhagic disease in Western North Carolina [See Disease News Map for locations of EHD cases in deer][North Carolina, USA]
- Pa. official hope ban on some imported carcass parts keeps deer disease out of state [Pennsylvania, USA]
- Michigan changes strategy in fight against Chronic Wasting Disease [Michigan, USA]
- Dead fish washed up in Turtle Creek were not killed by West Nile aerial spraying, officials say [Texas, USA]
- Thousands of fish dead in Cuyahoga River [Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio, USA - Map It ]
- New Flu Strain Shows up at County Fair in PA [Pennsylvania, USA]
- Infected Bushmeat blamed for Ebola outbreak
- New AIDS-like disease in Asians, not contagious
- Conservation Drones Protect Wildlife, Spot Poachers And Track Forest Loss
- Helium-huffing gibbons 'sing with soprano technique' [Courtesy of a fellow Digest reader]
- The secret life of seabirds
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