SCWDS BRIEFS: Volume 20, Number 2 (July 2004)

National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa, confirmed vesicular stomatitis (VS) in horses at one premises in Texas. As of July 21, 2004, infected animals were identified on a total of 45 premises in Colorado (11), New Mexico (21), and Texas (13). These are the first reports of VS in livestock in the United States since the 1998 epizootic. SCWDS VS Studies Chronic Wasting Disease Developments: nearly 118,000 wild white-tailed deer, mule deer, and elk were tested in the United States from October 2002 to September 2003, with 592 animals testing positive for the CWD prion. More than $38,000,000 was spent by federal and state wildlife and animal health agencies on CWD-related activities during this same period. The Second International Chronic Wasting Disease Symposium, hosted by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, will be held in Madison, Wisconsin, July 12-14, 2005. Crow Decoys Used in West Nile Virus Study Although Lyme disease caused by a spirochete bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, is relatively rare in the southeastern United States, a Lyme disease-like infection referred to as Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness (STARI) and thought to be caused by Borrelia lonestari, has been recognized in people in this region. The Ohio Division of Wildlife joined SCWDS as an associate member beginning July 1, 2004. The Final Report of the 2003 Hemorrhagic Disease (HD) Surveillance project has been completed and distributed to all cooperators. New of Caroline Duffie, Robbie Edalgo and wife Jen, Clay George, Darrell Kavanaugh, Lynn Lewis-Weiss’s husband, Dr. Kevin Weiss, and Nate Mechlin. New SCWDS staff include Brian Chandler, Jay Cumbee, Ginger Goekjian, Bill Hamrick, Sabrina McGraw, Kerri Pedersen, and Ben Wilcox. Recent SCWDS Publications Available

SCWDS BRIEFS: Volume 18, Number 3 (October 2002)

• Chronic Wasting Disease Update: Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Colorado; National CWD Management – USDA & USDI National Plan for Assisting States, Federal Agencies, and Tribes in Managing Chronic Wasting Disease in Free-ranging and Captive Cervids • West Nile virus (WNV) reaches the Pacific coast • West Nile Virus in Blue Jays • Idaho Brucellosis Linked to Wildlife: All of the epidemiological and laboratory information clearly indicates that brucellosis-infected elk transmitted the disease to the cattle herd. • Tularemia caused a die-off of captured wild prairie dogs this summer at a Texas commercial exotic animal facility that distributes the animals for sale as pets. • Raptors can acquire avian vacuolar myelinopathy (AVM) via ingestion of other affected birds. • House Finch Mycoplasmosis: bacterial eye disease of house finches • Raccoon Rabies report • Toxoplasmosis – The newest finding regarding sea otters in California is the importance of toxoplasmosis as a mortality factor. Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite that can invade visceral organs and the central nervous system to cause acute, disseminated tissue necrosis and fatal meningoencephalitis in susceptible animals. In recent years, 36% of dead sea otters examined have been infected. Another tissue-invading protozoan, Sarcocystis neurona, also was found in 4% of the otters. • Recovery of remnant populations of the endangered black-footed ferret have been hampered by sylvatic plague, which is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. • Dr. Samantha Gibbs received the Wildlife Disease Association’s Student Research Recognition Award. Dr. Cynthia Tate was selected by the American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists to receive the Best Student Presentation Award. Dr. Andrea Varela won second place in the Student Presentation Award for her presentation at the meeting of the American Association Veterinary Parasitologists. Mr. Michael Yabsley received the Wildlife Disease Association Student Scholarship and the S.A. Ewing Vectorborne Parasitology Award from the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine.