Publications

White-nose syndrome is an emerging disease in North America that has caused substantial declines in hibernating bats. A recently identified fungus (Geomyces destructans) causes skin lesions that are characteristic of this disease. Typical signs of this infection were not observed in bats in North America before white-nose syndrome was detected. However, unconfirmed reports from Europe...

No abstract available.

Climate change will have significant effects on the health of wildlife, domestic animals, and humans, according to scientists. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects that unprecedented rates of climate change will result in increasing average global temperatures; rising sea levels; changing global precipitation patterns, including increasing amounts and variability; and...

Nestling birds are rarely sampled in the field for most arboviruses, yet they may be important in arbovirus amplification cycles. We sampled both nestling and adult house sparrows (Passer domesticus) in western Nebraska for West Nile virus (WNV) or WNV-specific antibodies throughout the summer of 2008 and describe pathology in naturally infected nestlings. Across the summer, 4% of...

Laysan Ducks are endemic to the Hawaiian archipelago and are one of the world’s most endangered waterfowl. For 150 yr, Laysan Ducks were restricted to an estimated 4 km2 of land on Laysan Island in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands. In 2004 and 2005, 42 Laysan Ducks were translocated to Midway Atoll, and the population increased to approximately 200 by 2007. In August 2008, mortality due...

No abstract available.

Public health agencies utilize aerial insecticides to interrupt an active West Nile virus (WNV) transmission cycle, which may expose WNV-infected birds to these agents. Although resmethrin has been considered benign to birds, no studies have evaluated whether the environmentally employed form of resmethrin with PBO synergist (synergized resmethrin (SR)) can suppress avian immunity to WNV...

Baits containing recombinant raccoon poxvirus (RCN) expressing plague antigens (fraction 1 [F1] and a truncated form of the V protein-V307) were offered for voluntary consumption several times over the course of several months to a group of 16 black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus). For comparison, another group of prairie dogs (n = 12) was injected subcutaneously (SC) (prime...

Alphaviruses (Togaviridae) infect wild birds, but clinical illness and death attributable to virus in naturally infected birds is rarely reported, particularly for small passerine species or nestlings. Buggy Creek virus is a unique alphavirus in the Western equine encephalomyelitis virus (WEEV) complex that is vectored by the cimicid swallow bug (Oeciacus vicarius), an ectoparasite of...

No abstract available.

Five southern red-backed voles (Myodes gapperi) of the first generation of a wild-caught breeding colony were presented with lesions at the maxillary incisors consistent with elodontoma. The affected animals had a history of chronic weight loss, were >16 months of age, and were siblings. Radiographs of the head showed multiglobular to irregularly outlined mineral opacity masses at the...

A newly developed polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based method to rapidly and specifically detect Geomyces destructans on the wings of infected bats from small quantities (1–2 mg) of tissue is described in the current study (methods for culturing and isolating G. destructans from bat skin are also described). The lower limits of detection for PCR were 5 fg of purified fungal DNA or 100...