Wildlife Flashcards
What are the major wildlife diseases of importance (9)?
- Rabies
- Canine distemper
- Hemorrhagic disease
- Chronic wasting disease
- White nose syndrome of bats
- Avian pox
- Duck plague
- Avian influenza
- Avian cholera
What accounts for the largest proportion of human cases of rabies?
Bat exposures
What animal in VA is most frequently reported for rabies?
Raccoon
Describe the etiology, host, and transmission of canine distemper virus in wildlife.
- Etiology: morbillivirus, epitheliotropic and attacks epithelial cells of the repsiratory tract, GIT and eyes
- Host: cause of mortality in raccoons, gray foxes, and coyotes
- Transmission: direct contact, aerosol of ocular and nasal secretions, urine - does not survive in the environment
Describe the etiology, host, and transmission of hemorrhagic disease in wildlife.
- Etiology: 2 closerly related but distinct orbiviruses - epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) and bluetognue virus (BT)
- Host: most important infectious diseae of white-tailed deer in southeastern US
- Transmission: biting midges (culicoides)
Describe how deer are often found in the wild when infected with hemorrhagic disease.
- Late summer to early fall
- Recumbent and close to a source of water
Signficance of canine distemper in wildlife
Mot major human public health concern
Significance of hemorrhagic disease in wildlife
- Can cause dramatic local population declines in white-tailed deer
- Can resemble FMD, rinderpest, and heartwater in deer and livestock
- No public health significance
Describe the etiology, host, and transmission of chronic wasting disease in wildlife.
- Etiology: prions - transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, resulting in spongiform degeneration of CNS (interneuronal vacuoles)
- Host: white-tailed deer, elk, mule deer, black-tailed deer, and moose
- Transmission: direct froma animal to animal, indirect fro contaminated food of environment (importance unkown)
How is CWD diagnosed?
Examination of the obex of medulla oblongata and retropharyngeal lymph nodes for the presence of prions (post-mortem)
CWD significance
- No scientific evidence it has infected humans
- No correleation to CJD
Describe the etiology, host, and transmission of white nose syndrom in bats.
- Etiology: fungus pseudogymnoascus (geomyces) destructans, which thrives in the characteristics of most bat habitats, cannot grow above 20C = 68F like most fungi
- Host: 9 species of bats (little brown, big brown, northern-long eared, eastern pipistrelle, indianda, gray bat)
- Transmission: ??
Describe the etiology, host, and transmission of rabbit hemorrhagic disease.
- Etiology: lagovirus (calicivirdae) RHDV1 = adults, no resevoir in NA, RHDV2 = multiple species of rabbits, lower mortality than 1
- Host: rabbits and hares (2) or adult rabbits oryctolagus cuniculus (1)
- Transmission: ??
Describe the etiology, host, and transmission of avian pox.
- Etiology: pox virus
- Host: birds
- Transmission: blood-feeding insects (mosquitoes), inhalation or ingestion of virus-laden scabs
- No public health risk
Describe the control methods of avian pox in the wild and in captivity.
Wild - eliminate mosquito breeding sites, mosquito larvacides and adulticides
Captive - disinfection of equiptment w 5% bleach, screening, MLV in domestic birds
Describe the etiology, host, and transmission of duck plague.
- Etiology: duck viral enteritis caused by herpesvirus
- Host: only ducks, swans, and geese (Anseriformes)
- Transmission: infected waterfowl or environment, virus sheds in fecal/oral discharges, survivors become lifetime carriers and shed virus
Describe control and prevention measures of duck plague.
- Control - destruction of infected flocks/eggs, carcass disposal via incineration, decontamination of environment, disinfection of equiptment
- Prevention - attenuated vx approved for domestic ducks only
- No public health risk
Describe the etiology, host, and transmission of avian influenza.
- Etiology: orthomyxovirus, H5 and H7 most common HPAI, LPAI not reportable
- Host: domestic poultry, waterfowl, other wild birds
- Transmission: horizontal, migratory waterfowl wild resevoirs but transmission to poultry unlikely, virus shed in feces and secretions, spread by contaminated feed and water equiptment, vehicles, and people
Describe prevention and control measures for avian influenza.
- Report to state vet
- Depopulation
- Inactivation via heat, dryness, pH extremes
- Disinfect with bleach, virkon, phenol, or formalin
Describe the etiology, host, and transmission of avian cholera.
Etiology: pasteurella multocida
Host: water birds, some rodent species and raptors as well
Transmission: infected birds shedding bacteria, infected carcasses, chronic carriers, seasonal in winter
Describe control/prevention measures of avian cholera.
Control - dispoasal and incineration of infected carcasses, habitat management, disinfection, vaccination of captive flocks (bacterin)
What are the prevention/control measures used for rabies?
- Vaccination for domestic animals = buffer zone between humans and wildlife
- Oral vaccine for free-ranging carnivores that consume vaccine-laden baits (racoons, coyotes)
Canine distemper clinical signs in wildlife
Respiratory, GI, neurologic (similar to rabies), and proliferation of foot pad epithelium
Clinical signs of hemorrhagic disease in wildlife
- Fever, depression, oral ctanosis
- Pulmonary edema, hemorrhage at base of pulmonary artery
- Edema of head, neck, tongue and conjunctiva
- Sloughing of hoof, rumen ulcers and loss of rumen papillae
- Death 1-3 days
Clinical signs of white-nosed syndrome in bats.
- Iritation = bats dont hibernate = no food = weight loss
- Microscopic fungal hyphae on external surfaces
Clinical signs of avian pox
- Visual impairement, resp distress, weakness and emaciation
- Dry = cutaneous - proliferative nodules of unfeathered areas like the nares
- Wet = dipthertic - raised plaques in oral cavity or resp tract