Recording and submitting specimen history data

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 for understanding the natural history or epizootiology of disease outbreaks, and it is difficult, if not impossible, to obtain the history after the outbreak has occurred. Detailed field observations during the course of a die-off and an investigation of significant events preceding it also provide valuable information on which to base corrective actions. The most helpful information is that which is obtained at the time of the die-off event by a perceptive observer.