Day 8: You’ve Put Off Your Holiday Shopping, but Hey, No Need to Delay Getting Your WHER Account!
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| Figure 1: Screenhsot of the form for creating a WHER account. Required fields are limited to name, username, email and password. |
So where to start? Follow these simple steps and in about 2 – 5 minutes you’ll have your very own WHER account, and you can start helping researchers and wildlife biologists better understand wildlife disease. Get your WHER account now!
- Go to http://www.whmn.org/wher/users/add
- Enter the required fields and optional fields where you like. [See Figure 1]
- If you have been invited to join a specific volunteer group, then check the box next to the group name. If you're just joining as an individual, you can skip this step.
- Click the Save button to save your account details.
- Go check your email! You should receive an email from wher@wdin.org with a link to click to confirm your account.
Invite to Organizations to Create Your Own WHER Group Project
Organizations are welcome to use WHER for their wildlife health monitoring projects. The benefit of having a project group created is that you can use WHER’s search feature to select only those reports linked to your project. When members of your group log into WHER, they would indicate that they are entering a report for your project. If desired, the WHER team can give you administrative rights to manage your group’s membership. Sound interesting? Want to learn more? Email us at wher@wdin.org.
While you are procrastinating on that holiday shopping, go sign up for your WHER account and join the effort to spot wildlife health events in your community.
TOP STORIES
Research: Wind’s contribution to Avian Influenza spread
Wind is estimated to contribute around 18% to the spread of Avian Influenza following an outbreak, a Dutch study to be published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases suggests.
...Dispersal of infectious material by wind has been suggested but never demonstrated as a possible cause of transmission between farms. Statistical evidence has been provided that the direction of spread of avian influenza A(H7N7) is correlated with the direction of wind at date of infection. Research was conducted by reconstructing the transmission tree for a large outbreak in the Netherlands in 2003 using detailed genetic and epidemiological data. It was conservatively estimated that the contribution of a possible wind-mediated mechanism to the total amount of spread during this outbreak could be around 18%.
World Poultry - www.worldpoultry.net
17 Dec 2012
More Avian Influenza News
Geographic complexity explains patterns of spread of white-nose syndrome in bats
The spread of white-nose syndrome, an emerging fungal disease in bats, may be determined by habitat and climate, scientists at the University of Georgia have found.
Using data about the spread of white-nose syndrome to date, postdoctoral researcher Sean P. Maher and colleagues at the Odum School of Ecology made a computer model showing that cave-hibernating species of bats in areas with cold winters are most vulnerable to the disease. Their study in Nature Communications finds simulations suggest that white-nose syndrome is likely to spread rapidly among vulnerable populations, reaching a peak in 2015-2016.
UGA Today - news.uga.edu
18 Dec 2012
L King
A “Doomsday Virus” for Endangered Parrots?
Every time we test blood from new endangered parrot species with small, isolated wild populations, we find Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (PBFD) virus, a particularly nasty airborne circovirus that destroys the skin and feathers while opening large, painful fissures in the beak that eventually breaks it apart. Cape parrots, black-cheeked lovebirds, Carnaby’s cockatoos, New Caledonian parakeets, Norfolk Island Green Parrot, red-fronted parakeets, swift parrot, orange-bellied parrot, and Echo parakeets are all endangered by catastrophic deforestation and/or widespread capture for the wild-caught bird trade, and ALL have high levels of PBFD virus in the wild population. Is this the “Doomsday Virus” for Endangered parrots?
Our research has demonstrated that PBFd is endemic to the wild Cape parrot population and thus should exist at low levels in the wild. Something has disturbed the balance… This poorly-known virus also attacks the immune system, opening the PBFD-positive parrot to bacterial infections like avian TB, Pseudomonassp., and pneumonia.
National Geographic - newswatch.nationalgeogrphic.com
18 Dec 2012
S Boyes
OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
- ProMED: Rabies - Greece - fox, OIE [Greece - Map It
] - Crayfish Harbor Fungus That's Wiping Out Amphibians
- Fish & Game close eye on deadly bird disease [New Zealand]
- Badger sleeping habits could help target TB control
- Humane Wildlife Services of the HSUS Addresses Human-Wildlife Conflict [Interview with senior director of Wildlife Response, Innovations & Services for The Humane Society of the United States]
- Lack of genetic diversity threatens manatees, study says
- Study will track moose in Utah
- CCWHC graduate student studying disease of Canadian crows [CCWHC healthywildlife.ca Blog]
One Health News Corner
- Long-term public health support needed to tackle infectious disease outbreaks
- Pigs in southern China infected with avian flu
- Schmallenberg: Rapid spread of livestock virus [England and Wales]
- New Lethal Bird Flu Strain Emerges in Indonesian Ducks
- Chances Seen Rising for Chikungunya Outbreaks in NYC, Atlanta, Miami [USA]
It Ain't All Bad
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