Wildlife Disease News Digest

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New Malaria Agent Found In Chimpanzees Close To That Commonly Observed In Humans
ScienceDaily - www.sciencedaily.com (Source: Public Library of Science)
29 May 2009
Photo credit: iStockphoto

Researchers based in Gabon and France report the discovery of a new malaria agent infecting chimpanzees in Central Africa. This new species, named Plasmodium gaboni, is a close relative of the most virulent human agent P. falciparum.

The research is described in an article published May 29 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens.

P. falciparum is the major human malaria agent responsible for one to three million deaths annually. In 2002, the publication of the genome of P. falciparum generated new hopes in the fight against this deadly disease, by the opportunities it offered to discover new drug targets.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Cited Journal Article
>>>A New Malaria Agent in African Hominids. PLoS Pathog. 2009 May 29; [Epub ahead of print]

What Is Killing Chile's Coastal Wildlife?
Yahoo News - news.yahoo.com (Source: Time Magazine)
04 Jun 2009
G Long
Area: Chile

First, in late March the bodies of about 1,200 penguins were found on a remote beach in southern Chile. Next came the sardines - millions of them - washed up dead on a nearby stretch of coastline in April, causing a stench so noxious that nearby schools were closed and the army was called in to shovel piles of rotting fish off the sand. Then it was the turn of the rare Andean flamingos.

Over the course of approximately three months, thousands of them abandoned their nests on a salt lake in the Atacama Desert in the far north of Chile. Their eggs failed to hatch, and all 2,000 chicks died in their shells. Finally, in late May came the pelicans - nearly 60 of them, found dead on the central Chilean coast.

No one knows exactly what has caused these four apparently unrelated environmental disasters in as many months. Global warming has been blamed, as has overfishing, pollution and disease.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Cigarette Butts Kill Fish According to New Study
Blue Living Ideas - bluelivingideas.com
03 Jun 2009
J Lance
Photo credit: roomic cube

One of the most common forms of litter are cigarette butts. Once these butts enter waterways, they become toxic to fish. According to a new study by San Diego Sate University (SDSU), filter-tipped cigarette butts are deadly to marine and freshwater fish. In fact, researchers would like to have the butts classified as hazardous waste.

Cigarette butts are not biodegradable. The filters are made up of 12,000 plastic-like cellulose acetate fibers that trap nicotine and tar. There’s enough nicotine trapped in 200 used cigarette filters to kill a human!

An estimated 1.69 billion pounds of butts are littered each year worldwide, so you can imagine the negative effects these butts have on aquatic life when they wash into streams and oceans. SDSU Public Health Professor Tom Novotny explains, “It is toxic at rather low concentrations. Even one butt in a liter of water can kill the fish in a period of 96 hours.”

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Related News
>>>Ponds to be restored, but first, the fish must die [pollutants, Tennessee]

Pa. orders all rescued bats to be destroyed
Philadelphia Inquirer - www.philly.com/inquirer
08 Jun 2009
A Worden
Area: Pennsylvania, United States

Seeking to halt the spread of a disease ravaging bat populations in the Northeast, the Pennsylvania Game Commission laid down the law: All bats collected by wildlife rescuers - regardless of whether they were sick or injured - would have to be euthanized.

The order, issued in response to white-nose syndrome, a highly contagious fungal disease, came just before the busy spring season when baby bats take flight. It has angered bat advocates, who consider the Game Commission's response extreme.

"It's a draconian approach," said Laura Flandreau, a volunteer from Chestnut Hill who launched a petition drive urging Gov. Rendell to persuade the commission to lift the ban. She says none of the other eight states where the disease has been found has banned rescue and release efforts. In New Jersey, she said, efforts are under way to treat infected bats in a research facility.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Related Bat News
>>>National Forest caves closed due to bat illness, speleology groups affected

Bird experts note outbreak of avian pox around valley
Desert Sun - www.mydesert.com
08 Jun 2009
D Goolsby
Area: Coachella Valley, Riverside County, California, USA - Map It

Birds in some parts of the Coachella Valley are developing wart-like growths around their eyes and beaks that could be symptoms of a viral bird disease.

“It seems to be Avian Pox,” said Linda York, executive director of the Coachella Valley Wild Bird Center in Indio. “It's been going around. There's been pockets here and there.”

The disease is not harmful to humans or other animals, she said, but can be deadly among birds, especially house finches.

York has received calls reporting sightings of afflicted birds from La Quinta, Palm Desert and Palm Springs.

>>>FULL ARTICLE