National Wildlife Health Center
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Welcome to the National Wildlife Health Center! Our mission is to advance wildlife health science for the benefit of animals, humans, and the environment.
Explore Science to learn more about wildlife diseases, ongoing projects, the Honolulu Field Station, and services.
Explore Data and Tools to use WHISPers, wildlife bulletins, our field manual, CWD surveillance app, and more.
Science Spotlight - Native Freshwater Mussel Health
Project investigates potential causative agents of mussel die-off events.
Learn MoreHonolulu Field Station
The NWHC HFS provides support to the natural resource communities of Hawaii and the Pacific Basin in the investigation of wildlife diseases.
Learn MoreNews
Pathology Case of the Month - Great-Horned Owl and Eurasian Collared-Dove
Case History: An adult female Great-Horned Owl (Bobo virginianus) was found dead in a residential yard in Utah, U.S. with an immature male Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) clutched in its left foot.
New Strategic Plan for the USGS National Wildlife Health Center
The USGS National Wildlife Health Center has adopted a new strategic science plan to guide our efforts to advance wildlife health for the next five years.
Pathology Case of the Month - Black Racer Snake
History: In May 2015, a Black Racer snake (Coluber constrictor priapus) with obvious multifocal cutaneous sores was observed at a basking site in Dutchess County, New York. One week later, the snake was found freshly deceased.
Publications
Chronic wasting disease—Research by the U.S. Geological Survey and partners
IntroductionChronic wasting disease (CWD) is the only transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, a class of invariably fatal neurodegenerative mammalian diseases associated with a misfolded cellular prion protein found in wild free-ranging animals. Because it has a long incubation period, affected animals in Cervidae (the deer family; referred to as...
Hopkins, M. Camille; Carlson, Christina M.; Cross, Paul C.; Johnson, Christopher J.; Richards, Bryan J.; Russell, Robin E.; Samuel, Michael D.; Sargeant, Glen A.; Walsh, Daniel P.; Walter, W. David
Caryospora-like coccidia infecting green turtles (Chelonia mydas): An emerging disease with evidence of interoceanic dissemination
Protozoa morphologically consistent with Caryospora sp. are one of the few pathogens associated with episodic mass mortality events involving free-ranging sea turtles. Parasitism of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) by these coccidia and associated mortality was first reported in maricultured turtles in the Caribbean during the 1970s. Years later,...
Stacy, Brian A.; Chapman, Phoebe A.; Stockdale-Walden, Heather; Work, Thierry M.; Dagenais, Julie; Foley, Allen M.; Wideroff, Morgan; Wellehan, Jr.; Childress, April L.; Manire, Charles A.; Rodriguez, Mya; Zachariah, Trevor T.; Staggs, Lydia; Zirkelbach, Bette; Nahvi, Nina; Crowder, Whitney; Boylan, Shane M.; Marquardt, Shelly; Pelton, Craig; Norton, Terry M. Life cycle of the trout cecal nematode, Truttaedacnitis truttae (Nematoda: Cucullanidae): Experimental and field observations
Truttaedacnitis truttae is a cucullanid nematode of primarily salmonine fishes. Brown trout (Salmo trutta) in Europe reportedly become parasitized by ingesting lampreys (Lampetra planeri) carrying infective larvae. However, our field and laboratory observations suggested that North American specimens of T. truttae have an...
Choudhury, Anindo; Cole, Rebecca A.