Wildlife Disease News Digest

TOP STORIES

Is Bat White-nose Syndrome An Emerging Fungal Pathogen?
ScienceDaily - www.sciencedaily.com (Source: USGS)
10 Aug 2009
Photo credit: Nancy Heaslip, NY DEC

An emerging fungal pathogen? New research provides even more evidence that a previously undescribed, cold-loving fungus is associated with white-nose syndrome, a condition linked to the deaths of up to 1,000,000 cave-hibernating bats in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic states.

Since the winter of 2006-2007, bat populations plummeted from 80 to 97 percent at surveyed bat-hibernation caves, called hibernacula.

USGS microbiologist Dr. David Blehert and his colleagues identified the fungus last year, and have followed up by trying to determine if the fungus may be responsible for the deaths or if it is simply a side effect of another underlying disease.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

It’s Not Easy Being Gene Suppressed
Newswire - www.newswise.com (Source: University of Utah)
05 Aug 2009

Frogs around the world are dying from a fungal pathogen perhaps because they don’t realize they are sick.

In a study conducted at the University of Idaho, scientists found that the immune system of the study’s frog species failed to respond to the chytrid fungus known as Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). In fact, it appears the fungal infection may actually suppress its victim’s immune system.

The findings are reported in a paper recently published in the Public Library of Science online edition (PLoS ONE), an interactive open-access journal for the communication of all peer-reviewed scientific and medical research.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Cited Journal Article
>>>Genome-Wide Transcriptional Response of Silurana (Xenopus) tropicalis to Infection with the Deadly Chytrid Fungus. PLoS One. 2009 Aug 04. [Epub ahead of print].

Stroud staff tested after TB Scare
www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk
07 Aug 2009

A worker at a centre researching the spread of bovine tuberculosis is suspected of contracting the disease from an infected badger.

Staff at the Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera) at Woodchester Park near Stroud, are being screened after an employee was suspected of picking up the infection.

The agency's head of executive support Dr Alison Wilson confirmed the health of a member of staff was under investigation.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

The Buzz On Bees: Coping With Vanishing Colonies
NPR: Talk of the Nation - www.npr.org
07 Aug 2009

Entomologist Dave Tarpy discusses beekeeping three years after colony collapse disorder appeared, and ecologist Kevin Matteson talks about urban beekeeping — it's illegal in certain cities, but some folks flout the law. Can bees in urban areas affect native bee populations?

Up next: bees. You know, the bees have been in the news lately for the phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder, which really continues to baffle scientists. They think they know what it is. They're not sure. They can't pin it down. You know, the bees left few clues behind when they disappeared from those nests, from the hive.

>>>FULL TRANSCRIPT

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