Emerging Diseases

USGS researchers are using telemetry to improve our understanding of how wild birds move throughout their environments and the potential implications for disease transmission within and to domestic poultry.

Low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) viruses naturally occur in wild birds and are rarely fatal. Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses are highly contagious, spread rapidly, are often fatal to poultry, and have been responsible for worldwide outbreaks. Together, LPAI and HPAI are generally referred to as either avian influenza viruses (AIVs) or "the bird flu."

USGS is studying the spread and effects of “blotchy bass syndrome” on black basses ( Micropterus spp). USGS and state agencies have partnered with citizen scientists and recreational organizations to create a continent-wide biosurveillance network to monitor the syndrome.

The Aquatic Disease and Pathogen Repository (AquaDePTH) will be a public-facing national repository to support biosurveillance of aquatic animal diseases and pathogens. By collating historically published data, plus new aquatic pathogen and disease information, stakeholders will be able monitor fish kill and aquatic pathogen trends spatially and temporally in freshwater and marine environments...

The U.S. Geological Survey’s Eastern Ecological Science Center is home to the Northeast Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (NEARMI), one of 7 ARMI regions across the United States. NEARMI works on public lands in thirteen states from Maine to Virginia, including many National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges.

A USGS multi-disciplinary team will use laboratory and modeling approaches to investigate the cause of stony coral tissue loss disease.

The Eastern Ecological Science Center is working closely with federal, state, and tribal partners to help inform decisions that reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from humans to North American wildlife, including bats.

Evaluating the pathogenicity and replication of a novel aquareovirus that infects the endangered fountain darter, Etheostoma fonticola

Prevalence of novel, emerging hepatitis viruses in wild white suckers and their association with liver tumors in the Great Lakes region

Whirling disease, caused by the myxosporean parasite Myxobolus cerebralis was identified as an emerging pathogen of trout in the intermountain west region of the U.S. in the early 1990’s. Investigators here worked collaboratively with others to further our understanding of this disease and its impacts on trout and other salmonid fishes.