Terrestrial Wildlife Diseases

Diseases are challenging to manage in wild ungulate populations, particularly when there are many ways the disease can spread. Wildlife management agencies often need to take action to control disease spread, but it is unclear which actions are most effective in constraining disease because the importance of different spread mechanisms is not fully understood. This project will aid state wildlife...

Migratory birds, and particularly those using habitats close to human settlements, may be infected with antibiotic resistant bacteria. The USGS is working with public health professionals to understand the role of birds in the maintenance and dispersal of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Additionally, the USGS is investigating how antibiotic resistant bacteria in birds may relate to public and...

White-nose syndrome has killed more than five million bats since its discovery in 2006. USGS is developing a non-invasive and user-friendly CRISPR white-nose syndrome biosensor to allow for quick detection of the pathogen that causes the disease.

WHISPers, the Wildlife Health Information Sharing Partnership - event reporting system, is a web-based repository of basic information on current and historic wildlife mortality (death) and/or morbidity (illness) events reported by partners nationwide. It is also the portal to request diagnostic and epidemiologic services from the USGS National Wildlife Health Center.

Multiple studies have demonstrated that various alleles of the cervid prion protein (PRNP) gene affect chronic wasting disease (CWD) progression.

Multiple research endeavors at the USGS National Wildlife Health Center are ongoing to help assess the possible impacts of SARS-CoV-2 on wildlife.

The first 2021/2022 detection of Eurasian strain (EA) highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in North America occurred in December 2021 in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Subsequently, HPAI EA H5 and EA H5N1 viruses have been confirmed in wild birds, backyard flocks, commercial poultry facilities, and wild mammals in both Canada and the United States. This HPAI distribution map will be...

Professionals at the NWHC include wildlife biologists, veterinarians, statisticians, epidemiologists, and informatics specialists. This multidisciplinary group conducts investigations and disease ecology studies of emerging and recurring priority wildlife diseases, maintains and analyzes comprehensive information on wildlife disease events, and provides response and management consultation and...

The Disease Decision Analysis and Research group is a multi-disciplinary team based out of the Eastern Ecological Science Center whose strengths are in ecology, decision sciences and quantitative modeling.

Below are the USGS 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) research projects related to COVID-19 pathways and wildlife dynamics. Select tabs above for related items.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was signed into law on March 27th, 2020, to aid response efforts and ease the economic impact of COVID-19. The Department of the Interior received funds to “prevent, prepare for, and response to coronavirus, domestically or internationally including, “biosurveillance of wildlife and environmental persistence studies.” The USGS...

Notable cases at the National Wildlife Health Center are highlighted here in the Pathology Case of the Month Series.