USGS National Wildlife Health Center
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Welcome to the National Wildlife Health Center! Our mission is to safeguard wildlife health through dynamic partnerships and exceptional science.
Explore SCIENCE to learn more about wildlife diseases, ongoing projects, the Honolulu Field Station, & our services!
Explore DATA AND TOOLS to use WHISPers, wildlife bulletins, our field manual, CWD surveillance app, & more!
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ONGOING WILDLIFE PROJECTS
Explore our ongoing projects to learn about NWHC expertise in wildlife disease diagnostics, epidemiology, and research.
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
A Unified Research Strategy for Disease Management
As wildlife diseases increase globally, an understanding of host-pathogen relationships can elucidate avenues for management and improve conservation efficacy. Amphibians are among the most threatened groups of wildlife, and disease is a major factor in global amphibian declines.
National Wildlife Health Center Newsletter September 2018
Newsletter from the National Wildlife Health Center in September 2018. Updates on avian influenza, amphibian diseases, chronic wasting disease, harmful algal blooms, vaccine development, and white-nose syndrome.
New Approach May Detect Chronic Wasting Disease Earlier, at Less Cost
A new statistical approach to disease surveillance may improve scientists’ and managers’ ability to detect chronic wasting disease earlier in white-tailed deer by targeting higher-risk animals. This approach can also provide financial and personnel savings for agencies that are required to monitor for wildlife diseases, including the National Park Service, or NPS.
Publications
Detection of Bisgaard taxon 40 in Rhinoceros Auklets (Cerorhinca monocerata) with pneumonia and septicemia from a mortality event in Washington, USA
We isolated Bisgaard taxon 40 from Rhinoceros Auklets (Cerorhinca monocerata) with pneumonia and septicemia from Washington, US, found dead in 2016. Previously isolated only from the respiratory tract of a gull (Laridae), little is known about its pathogenic potential and whether it acts as a primary or opportunistic pathogen.
Knowles, Susan N.; Bodenstein, Barbara; Berlowski-Zier, Brenda M.; Thomas, Susan M; Pearson, Scott F; Lorch, Jeffrey M. Element concentrations in tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) from the U.S. and Binational Great Lakes’ areas of concern
Selected elements were targeted in state Remedial Action Plans as one group of chemicals affecting the Beneficial Use Impairments of Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOC). Livers of nestling tree swallows, Tachycineta bicolor, were harvested from 76 sites in the Great Lakes which included multiple sites at 27 AOCs and 12 reference sites from 2010...
Custer, Thomas W.; Custer, Christine M.; Dummer, Paul; Goldberg, Diana R.; Franson, J. Christian Predicting the initial spread of novel Asian origin influenza A viruses in the continental USA by wild waterfowl
Using data on waterfowl band recoveries, we identified spatially explicit hotspots of concentrated waterfowl movement to predict occurrence and spatial spread of a novel influenza A virus (clade 2.3.4.4) introduced from Asia by waterfowl from an initial outbreak in North America in November 2014. In response to the outbreak, the hotspots of...
Franklin, Alan B.; Bevins, Sarah N.; Ellis, Jeremy W.; Miller, Ryan S.; Shriner, Susan A.; Root, J. Jeffrey; Walsh, Daniel P.; DeLiberto, Thomas J.