Wildlife Disease News Digest

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Mobile app sees science go global
BBC News - news.bbc.co.uk
16 Sep 2009
Photo credit: Imperial Collection London

A mobile phone application will help professional and "citizen" scientists collect and analyse data from "in the field", anywhere in the world.

"Many of the other tools that allow one to send data by mobile phone don't have an easy way for any of the researchers to look at any of the data in almost real-time," he told BBC News.

The team is already working to track the occurrence of chytridiomycosis, a fungal infection that is decimating the numbers of amphibians around the globe.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

CSU gets $2.5M grant for study of chronic-wasting disease
Denver Business Journal - denver.bizjournals.com
09 Sep 2009

Colorado State University has received a $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study the transmission of chronic-wasting disease in wildlife -- research that could help scientists understand how other diseases spread.

CSU scientists first identified CWD in deer in northeastern Colorado and southeastern Wyoming in the 1960s.

It can cause fatal neurological damage in species of the deer family and is similar to mad cow disease in cattle.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

>>>Veterinary lab on 'front line' of health [new $42 million veterinary Diagnostic Medicine Center, CSU]

Chloride Found at Levels that Can Harm Aquatic Life in Urban Streams of the Northern U.S.--Winter Deicing a Major Source
USGS Newsroom - www.usgs.gov/newsroom
16 Sep 2009

Levels of chloride, a component of salt, are elevated in many urban streams and groundwater across the northern U.S., according to a new government study.

Chloride levels above the recommended federal criteria set to protect aquatic life were found in more than 40 percent of urban streams tested.

The study was released today by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Elevated chloride can inhibit plant growth, impair reproduction, and reduce the diversity of organisms in streams.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Health Dept: Rabid Horse Reported in El Paso County
KKTV 11 News - www.kktv.com
16 Sep 2009
Area: El Paso County, Texas, USA - Map It

The El Paso County Department of Health and Environment says a horse in El Paso County has died after contracting rabies.

. . . Health department officials say they believe that the horse was exposed to a skunk on its home property in Black Forest area. This is the first horse in 25 years in Colorado that's been confirmed to have rabies.

“Rabies infection in horses is rare,” said Public Health Director Kandi Buckland, R.N., M.P.A. “We anticipate that the infection was caused by skunk rabies, which greatly concerns us because it would indicate that rabies is not only spreading in the county, but also crossing animal species and increasing the risk to people.”

>>>FULL ARTICLE