Publications

Procedures for shipping specimens vary with different disease diagnostic laboratories. Therefore, it is important to contact the receiving laboratory and obtain specific shipping instructions. This will facilitate processing of specimens when they reach the laboratory and assure that the quality of specimens is not compromised. Time spent on field investigation, specimen collection, and...

This chapter provides information on a recently identified disease of the American woodcock. Little is known about the disease or the virus that causes it. It has been included in this Manual to enhance awareness that such a disease exists and to stimulate additional interest in further investigations to define the importance of woodcock reovirus. More information about this disease is...

Cyanide poisoning of birds is caused by exposure to cyanide in two forms: inorganic salts and hydrogen cyanide gas (HCN). Two sources of cyanide have been associated with bird mortalities: gold and silver mines that use cyanide in the extraction process and a predator control device called the M-44 sodium cyanide ejector, which uses cyanide as the toxic agent. Most of the cyanide...

History can be defined as a chronological record of significant events. In wildlife disease investigations, determining the history or background of a problem is the first significant step toward establishing a diagnosis. The diagnostic process is often greatly expedited by a thorough history accompanying specimens submitted for laboratory evaluation. This information is also important...

Unusual numbers of wedge-tailed shearwater (Puffinus pacificus) chicks stranded on Oahu (Hawaii, USA) in 1994. Compared to healthy wedge-tailed shearwater (WTSW) chicks, stranded chicks were underweight, dehydrated, leukopenic, lymphopenic, eosinopenic, and heterophilic; some birds were toxemic and septic. Stranded chicks also were hypoglycemic and had elevated aspartate amino...

No abstract available.

Thirteen cell lines were established and characterized from brain, kidney, lung, spleen, heart, liver, gall bladder, urinary bladder, pancreas, testis, skin, and periorbital and tumor tissues of an immature male green turtle (Chelonia mydas) with fibropapillomas. Cell lines were optimally maintained at 30A? C in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum. Propagation of...

We found up to 10 ppm wet weight of selenium in blood samples collected from emperor geese (Chen canagica) on their breeding grounds on the Yukon‐Kuskokwim Delta in western Alaska, USA. Incubating adult females captured in late May through mid‐June 1997 had significantly higher concentrations of selenium in their blood (mean = 5.60 ppm) than adult females captured during wing molt in...

No abstract available.

Periodic blooms of algae, including true algae, dinoflagellates, and cyanobacteria or blue-green algae have been reported in marine and freshwater bodies throughout the world. Although many blooms are merely an aesthetic nuisance, some species of algae produce toxins that kill fish, shellfish, humans, livestock and wildlife. Pigmented blooms of toxinproducing marine algae are often...

Mycotoxins are toxins produced by molds (fungi) that, when they are ingested, can cause diseases called mycotoxicosis. These diseases are are not infectious. The effects on the animal are caused by fungal toxins in foods ingested, usually grains, and are not caused by infection with the fungus. Many different molds produce mycotoxins and many corresponding disease syndromes have been...

Bloodsucking leeches of the genus Theromyzon sp. are the only leeches in North America known to feed directly in the nasal passages, trachea, and beneath the nictitating membrane of the eyes of migratory birds. Three species of nasal leeches have been reported from North America, T. rude, T. tessulatum, and T. biannulatum. Other genera of leeches feed on the exposed surfaces of waterfowl...