NOTES QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER FROM THE NORTHEAST WILDLIFE DISEASE COOPERATIVE VOL 7.1 | JANUARY 2020 Providing wildlife diagnostics, expertise, and training services in the Northeast U.S. VOL 7.1 | JANUARY 2020 1 NORTHEASTWILDLIFE.ORG ELISA for P. tenuis now available! The University of Tennessee Wildlife Parasitology Section is ready to test serum samples for P. tenuis. Dr. Gerhold has announced that the test appears to be accurate for moose, and they are getting excellent results on known positive and negative samples. If you wish to send in samples, be sure to get in touch with him in advance ([email protected]) describing how many samples you have so that the lab staff has time to prepare. Dr. Gerhold thanks everyone for your patience and for making this project possible through your financial support! Address for samples: Dr. Rick Gerhold, 2407 River Drive, Room A225, UTCVM, Knoxville TN 37996-4543 Disease Symposium at the NEAFWA Conference NWDC is co-hosting a symposium, titled, “Ongoing and Emerging Threats to Wildlife Health in the Northeast” with Dr. Nicole Lewis (NJ DEP, Division of Fish and Wildlife) at the upcoming NEAFWA conference. This half-day symposium will take place on Monday, April 20 from 1:20-5:00 pm, and will feature 10 presentations on a variety of topics including: the threat of Bsal to N. American salamanders, WNS in Pennsylvania bats, Ruffed Grouse management in the age of WNV, anticoagulant rodenticides in VT fishers, diagnostic findings in porcupines from US border states and Canada, emerging diseases in crows and bluebirds, diseases of wild Turkeys in Pennsylvania, and experimental WNS infection in Northern Bobwhite Quails and wild turkeys. We have an outstanding line- up of presenters and look forward to seeing you all there! Recommendations for Reptiles and Amphibians in Rehabilitation We have been working with state and federal herp biologists to draft recommendations for rehabilitation of herpetofauna in the Northeast. Specifically, we are addressing several issues including the following: animals that are brought into rehab facilities without information on their location of origin, lack of reporting of threatened species that come into a facility, lack of criteria for knowing when it’s okay to release certain individuals, and establishing formal biosecurity recommendations. In the past few weeks, Dr. Katie Haman has been working on two documents with input from biologists: a decision tree, “Considerations for Intake of Herps into Rehabilitation Facilities in the Northeast, USA” and a “General Guidelines for the intake, quarantine, and release of reptiles and amphibians in rehab facilities in Northeastern States, USA.” We’ve received a round of very helpful reviews from biologists, the Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC) National Disease Task Team, and a wildlife rehabilitator. We are now seeking your input on two tables we would like to add to the “Guidelines” document: 1. List, by state, of herp pathogens of concern (based on your state Wildlife Disease Surveillance Plans) 2. List, by state, of nuisance, invasive, or exotic species deemed inappropriate for release in each state. In an effort to facilitate this process, we will host a conference call on February 10 (1-2 pm) to discuss any remaining questions or concerns regarding these documents. We appreciate the input we have received thus far. continued PROGRAM UPDATES FROM THE ADMINISTRATOR NWDC is administered from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and provides expert advice and training as well as diagnostic services through its consortium of veterinary diagnostic laboratories.
Transcript
NOTESQUARTERLY NEWSLETTER FROM THE NORTHEAST WILDLIFE DISEASE COOPERATIVE VOL 7.1 | JANUARY 2020
Providing wildlife diagnostics, expertise, and training services in the Northeast U.S.
VOL 7.1 | JANUARY 2020 1 NORTHEASTWILDLIFE.ORG
ELISA for P. tenuis now available!
The University of Tennessee Wildlife Parasitology Section is ready to test serum samples for P. tenuis. Dr. Gerhold has announced that the test appears to be accurate for moose, and they are getting excellent results on known positive and negative samples. If you wish to send in samples, be sure to get in touch with him in advance ([email protected]) describing how many samples you have so that the lab staff has time to prepare. Dr. Gerhold thanks everyone for your patience and for making this project possible through your financial support!
Address for samples: Dr. Rick Gerhold, 2407 River Drive, Room A225, UTCVM, Knoxville TN 37996-4543
Disease Symposium at the NEAFWA Conference
NWDC is co-hosting a symposium, titled, “Ongoing and Emerging Threats to Wildlife Health in the Northeast” with Dr. Nicole Lewis (NJ DEP, Division of Fish and Wildlife) at the upcoming NEAFWA conference. This half-day symposium will take place on Monday, April 20 from 1:20-5:00 pm, and will feature 10 presentations on a variety of topics including: the threat of Bsal to N. American salamanders, WNS in Pennsylvania bats, Ruffed Grouse management in the age of WNV, anticoagulant rodenticides in VT fishers, diagnostic findings in porcupines from US border states and Canada,
emerging diseases in crows and bluebirds, diseases of wild Turkeys in Pennsylvania, and experimental WNS infection in Northern Bobwhite Quails and wild turkeys. We have an outstanding line-up of presenters and look forward to seeing you all there!
Recommendations for Reptiles and Amphibians in Rehabilitation
We have been working with state and federal herp biologists to draft recommendations for rehabilitation of herpetofauna in the Northeast. Specifically, we are addressing several issues including the following: animals that are brought into rehab facilities without information on their location of origin, lack of reporting of threatened species that come into a facility, lack of criteria for knowing when it’s okay to release certain individuals, and establishing formal biosecurity recommendations. In the past few weeks, Dr. Katie Haman has been working on two documents with input from biologists: a decision tree, “Considerations for Intake of Herps into Rehabilitation Facilities in the Northeast, USA” and a “General Guidelines for the intake, quarantine, and release of reptiles and amphibians in rehab facilities in Northeastern States, USA.” We’ve received a round of very helpful reviews from biologists, the Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC) National Disease Task Team, and a wildlife rehabilitator. We are now seeking your input on two tables we would like to add to the “Guidelines” document:
1. List, by state, of herp pathogens of concern (based on your state Wildlife Disease Surveillance Plans)
2. List, by state, of nuisance, invasive, or exotic species deemed inappropriate for release in each state.
In an effort to facilitate this process, we will host a conference call on February 10 (1-2 pm) to discuss any remaining questions or concerns regarding these documents. We appreciate the input we have received thus far.
continued
PROGRAM UPDATES FROM THE ADMINISTRATOR
NWDC is administered from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and provides expert advice and training as well as diagnostic services through its consortium of veterinary diagnostic laboratories.
Contributed by Dee Blanton, USFWS, North Atlantic-Appalachian Region, Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration ProgramJulie Thompson Slacum, USFWS, Division Chief of Strategic Resource Conservation, Chesapeake Bay Field Office
The Fish and Wildlife Service is working with the states, zoos and aquariums, academic institutions and others to try to decrease the illegal trade of turtles and to try to maximize conservation of these turtles by returning them to the wild, if possible. One of the biggest challenges to addressing illegal trade in turtles is lack of funding and capacity for housing and care, and trying to get genetic information to figure out origin. The Service is working with the Tennessee Aquarium and other partners to gather information needed to design facilities to house turtles for a maximum of two years, which is the amount of time it takes for Law Enforcement to close a case. This information will be used to search for sources of funding to set up these critically needed facilities. The NWDC (esp Dr. Katie Haman) is assisting with the effort by creating biosecurity protocols for box turtles, spotted turtles and wood turtles.
NWDC Annual Training Workshops
It’s time to start making plans for our annual training workshops! We will offer three workshop options this year:
I. Field Necropsy Protocol – how to get fresh specimens from birds and mammals, save diagnostic dollars, and get valuable data into the system
II. Regional disease updates by taxonomic group – series of three sessions (mammals, avian, herps)
III. How to Respond to a Wildlife Mortality Event Report Using Your Agency’s Wildlife Disease Surveillance Plans – review surveillance plan and update; run through scenarios and demonstrations
We will be available for the in-person workshops (I and III) from June – August 2020, so please review your schedules and let’s discuss dates. If you have not reviewed or updated your surveillance plan since it was originally created, we strongly encourage you to choose that activity for your workshop (see the following “From the Field” for why we encourage that.)
ONE OF THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES TO ADDRESSING ILLEGAL TRADE IN TURTLES IS LACK OF FUNDING
There were several other cases since our last quarterly newsletter; but in this issue we are presenting only one because we feel it is important for everyone to read it and absorb the lessons it offers. To begin…
On November 25, a Maine Division of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) regional biologist forwarded photos of a harvested deer to the state deer biologist who sent them to the Walt (NWDC wildlife veterinarian) asking for an opinion on the possible causes of the dramatic lesions seen in photo #1, below. Similar lesions were found in all organs, as well as the linings of both body cavities. Externally, this deer was in marginally poor body condition, but otherwise appeared normal.
This initial inquiry began an investigation that is still ongoing. The diagnosis ultimately involved not only NWDC staff, but the New Hampshire Veterinary Diagnostic Lab (NHVDL), the Maine State Veterinarian, Maine Department of Health, USDA Veterinary Services office in Maine, and the National Veterinary Services Lab in Ames, IA (NVSL) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
The original differential included tumors (carcinomatosis) and bacterial abscesses. The most worrisome and complicated of the two were the abscesses because they resembled so closely those of the economically important and zoonotic disease Bovine Tuberculosis (BTB), (see photo #2 of a BTB infected deer, from the Michigan DNR website).
We cannot overemphasize the negative impact a BTB diagnosis would have on the economy of the cattle industries in Maine, as well as New England and beyond. BTB would also pose a serious threat to human health and would also, without precedent, present MDIFW the challenge of managing the disease in a wild deer herd, something that has proven impossible in Michigan where BTB-infected deer have been found since 1975.
Within just a few days of specimen submission (of course the Thanksgiving holiday intervened), the NHVDL had completed initial cultures and applied special stains to test for the bacterium that causes BTB, Mycobacterium bovis (Mb). These test results were negative, so we could tentatively rule out Mb. Additional tests lead to an initial diagnosis of Salmonella spp. But, not so fast! The problem that remained was two-fold. First, Salmonella is a very large genus, and several additional tests were required to positively identify the bacterium to species. Second, Mb is slow-growing and, to be able to say with certainty that it was not the causative agent, cultures must be maintained
FROM THE FIELD
Note: we encourage members to contact NWDC Wildlife Veterinarian, Dr. Walt Cottrell, with questions about diseased wildlife. This section of the newsletter highlights some of the inquiries he has received from agency biologists. The observations reported here are featured because they are particularly interesting or unusual, or because they may be useful to biologists in other states who could make similar observations.
for 8 weeks so we were in the uncomfortable situation of waiting for results for the species of Salmonella and a negative BTB culture.
Following the “Action Plan” section of their Wildlife Disease Surveillance Plan, MDIFW biologists reviewed their options while waiting for test results. These included determining who had been exposed to the infected deer, and what measures might be needed to further protect them and prevent further exposure. Fortunately, MDIFW personnel used PPE while handling the infected deer and subsequent samples. Additional sampling of deer in the area, to take advantage of the last part of the rifle season, was also considered. Because of the tentative diagnosis of Salmonella spp, coupled with the improbability of BTB, the decision was made to wait until a firm diagnosis was reached before conducting any additional sampling of WTD around the area where the index case was found.
Meanwhile, the regional biologist who originally sent the photos of the infected deer, now had the problem of a deer carcass with a zoonotic pathogen (Salmonella or BTB), limited space to quarantine it, and frozen ground. No renderer would take it, and we learned from the USDA that the options for disposal of a BTB carcass are quite limited. For our part, NWDC began a Disease Fact Sheet on Salmonella and updated the one on BTB (https://www.northeastwildlife.org/disease/bovine-tuberculosis).
On 15 January we received word from NHVDL that the final ID of the Salmonella that was cultured from tissue samples is Salmonella enteriditis, which is the predominant cause of the food-borne salmonellosis in humans. So far, there has been no Mb growth on the special cultures at NVSL, but they will not be officially negative until 2/14/2020.
If anyone at any level in our member state agencies needed an example of the value of a functioning Disease Surveillance Plan, this case provides just that. It exemplifies the way such a plan is meant to work, and how vital it is for everyone to be both aware of it and trained in its implementation. This case also highlights the need for streamlined collaboration between multiple agencies during complex cases and how the NWDC structure facilitates that cooperation. Reading this, biologists and others throughout the region will have no trouble putting themselves in the position of the staff in Maine, and will hopefully also realize this robust capacity is there to serve them if a case like this ever comes to pass for them.
Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection, Wildlife DivisionDelaware Division of Fish and WildlifeMassachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife)Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and WildlifeNew Hampshire Fish & Game Department, Wildlife DivisionNew Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife, Office of Fish and Wildlife Health and ForensicsNew York State Department of Environmental ConservationPennsylvania Game Commission Rhode Island Division of Fish and WildlifeVermont Fish and Wildlife DepartmentU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Region 5)
DIAGNOSTIC LABORATORIES
Connecticut Veterinary Medical Diagnostic LaboratoryCummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts UniversityUniversity of Maine, Animal Health Laboratory, Dept. of Animal and Veterinary SciencesNew Hampshire Veterinary Diagnostic LaboratoryNew Jersey Animal Health Diagnostic LaboratoryNew York State Animal Health Diagnostic CenterPADLS New Bolton Center (NBC)
NWDC SERVICES ARE FUNDED BY OUR MEMBER STATES AND THE USFWS (REGION 5)
