Wildlife Disease News Digest

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Coral Bleaching Likely In Caribbean
ScienceDaily - www.sciencedaily.com (Source: NOAA)
27 Jul 2009
Photo credit: NOAA

Scientists from NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch Program say conditions are favorable for significant coral bleaching and infectious coral disease outbreaks in the Caribbean, especially in the Lesser Antilles.

The forecast is based on the July NOAA Coral Reef Watch outlook, which expects continued high water temperatures through October 2009.

Scientists are concerned that bleaching may reach the same levels or exceed those recorded in 2005, the worst coral bleaching and disease year in Caribbean history.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

After seven years, attitude toward chronic wasting disease changing
Wisconsin State Journal - www.madison.com
27 Jul 2009
R Seely
Area: Wisconsin, USA

After seven years of living with chronic wasting disease in the Wisconsin deer herd, the initial fears about eating venison have calmed.

But the news last week of a death at UW Hospital due to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease brought to mind once again the dangers of the neurological illnesses known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, or TSEs.

. . . Researchers at Madison’s National Wildlife Health Center are studying both the tough nature of the prions and their structure and infectivity. One researcher, for example, has found that voles are susceptible to infection from prions and serve as a good model for studies.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

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Disease Threat May Change How Frogs Mate
ScienceDaily - www.sciencedaily.com (Source: Wiley - Blackwell)
27 Jul 2009

Dr Amber Teacher, studying a post-doctorate at Royal Holloway, University of London, has discovered evidence that a disease may be causing a behavioural change in frogs.

The research, published in the August edition of ‘Molecular Ecology’, has unearthed a surprising fact about our long-tongued friends: wild frogs in the UK may be changing their mating behaviour.

. . . The research followed concerns over the survival of wild frog populations in the UK. Ranavirus, which had its first reported case in England in the early 1980s, is one of many pathogens ravaging the amphibian community.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Cited Journal Article
>>>Population genetic patterns suggest a behavioural change in wild common frogs (Rana temporaria) following disease outbreaks (Ranavirus). Molecular Ecology. 2009 Jun 29; 18(15): 3163-3172.

OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
Photo credit: Andy Rouse/NHPA/New Scientist