Wildlife Disease News Digest

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Excreted Tamiflu found in rivers
Science News Online - www.sciencenews.org
30 Sep 2009
J Raloff
Photo credit: iStockphoto

The premier flu-fighting drug is contaminating rivers downstream of sewage-treatment facilities, researchers in Japan confirm. The source: urinary excretion by people taking oseltamivir phosphate, best known as Tamiflu.

Concerns are now building that birds, which are natural influenza carriers, are being exposed to waterborne residues of Tamiflu’s active form and might develop and spread drug-resistant strains of seasonal and avian flu.

>>> FULL ARTICLE

Cited Journal Article

Oseltamivir Carboxylate – the Active Metabolite of Oseltamivir Phosphate (Tamiflu), Detected in Sewage Discharge and River Water in Japan. Environmental Health Perspectives. Online 2009 Sep 28.

Undercover omnivores

ESPN Outdoors - sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/index
13 Oct 2009
D Mulligan
Photo credit: P Squibb

. . . That's right. Deer eat meat.

. . . None of this was meant to simply be content for lively conversation over cocktails. Deer feeding on the carcasses of other deer is potentially very serious, and is a new front on the war against disease in deer and other wildlife.

"We know that both tuberculosis and chronic wasting disease produce organisms or transmittable material which is accumulated in the internal organs, connecting tissue and mesentery fat," Thurston said.

But even after the edible carrion is gone, the threat lives on.

>>> FULL ARTICLE [includes image gallery]

Related Deer Disease News

Deer on western Bighorns has chronic wasting Cody, Park County, Wyoming - Map It

Kent County deer testing all clear so far

CWD surveillance regulations proposed for elk in Texas

Deer hunters set to head into wild [Wisconsin, USA]
Nebraska officials ask for help watching for TB

Dead bird checks lead to park health warning
Stuff - www.stuff.co.nz
14 Oct 2009
K Rapley

Location: Pakuranga reserve, Aukland, New Zealand - Map It

The dying dove mystery at a Pakuranga reserve has been solved.

Hundreds of malay doves have been found dead on Tiraumea Reserve where there were suspicions of poisoning because of an on-going feud between neighbours over excessive bird feeding.

It has now been confirmed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries that the doves are dying because of an infection called chalmydophila psittaci (psittacosis), says Manukau Parks heritage manager Biran Singh.

>>> FULL ARTICLE

West Nile virus found in crow in Rockford
Beloit Daily News - www.beloitdailynews.com
12 Oct 2009
C Wolf

Location: Winnebago County, Illinois, USA - Map It

A dead crow found in southeast Winnebago County tested positive for West Nile virus — the first sign of the virus found in the county this year.

Todd Marshall, pollution control supervisor with the Winnebago County Health Department, said the crow was found in late September. It was tested locally and then sent off to the Illinois labs to be tested, and it was confirmed to contain West Nile virus.

“It was the first and only crow found in the county that tested positive,” he said.

>>> FULL ARTICLE

Rare Frog Species Bear the Brunt of Chytrid, a Deadly Fungal Disease
Scientific American - www.scientificamerican.com
13 Oct 2009
C Storrs
Photo credit: S Galeano

Threats to wildlife survival, such as habitat loss and climate change, tend to strike some species harder than others, and the threat of chytrid, a deadly amphibian fungus, appears to be no different. A study published in this month's Ecology Letters finds that rarer species were more likely to disappear, leading to loss of frog biodiversity in Central America.

. . . the average number of frog species at the eight sites dropped from 45 to 23 after the appearance of the chytrid fungus. Rare species that were only present at one or a few of the sites were disproportionately wiped out, making up more than half of the species lost.

>>> FULL ARTICLE [includes image gallery]

OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS