WILDLIFE DISEASES: What you don’t know COULD kill you! Andy Radomski, Ph.D. University of Minnesota-Crookston Natural Resources - Wildlife

My Neat Experiences: Undergraduate Graduate Wisconsin DNR – Lake Michigan Lyme Disease USFWS National Wildlife Health Lab Graduate Postdoctorate

My Neat Experiences: Undergraduate Graduate Wisconsin DNR – Lake Michigan Lyme Disease USFWS National Wildlife Health Lab Graduate Postdoctorate

My Neat Experiences: Undergraduate Graduate Wisconsin DNR – Lake Michigan Lyme Disease USFWS National Wildlife Health Lab Graduate Postdoctorate

My Neat Experiences:

Undergraduate Graduate Wisconsin DNR – Lake Michigan Lyme Disease USFWS National Wildlife Health Lab Graduate Postdoctorate

My Neat Experiences: Undergraduate Graduate Wisconsin DNR – Lake Michigan Lyme Disease USFWS National Wildlife Health Lab Graduate Postdoctorate

STRESSORS OF TEXAS BOBWHITES: ARE THEY TO BLAME FOR THEIR DECLINE?

Rio Grande Plains r= P=0.561

BOOM-BUST HYPOTHESES ¨ El Nino / Habitat Degradation ¨ Parasitic Infection / R.E.V. ¨ Fire Ants ¨ Nutritional Deficiencies ¨ Endocrine Disruptors Corticosterone

Radio-Immuno Assay (RIA)

My Neat Experiences: Undergraduate Wisconsin DNR – Lake Michigan Lyme Disease USFWS National Wildlife Health Lab Graduate Postdoctorate

Environment Human Disease

ZOONOTIC DISEASES: Wildlife diseases transmissible to humans: RABIESGIARDIASIS PLAQUERMSP LYME DISEASETULAREMIA HISTOPLASMOSISHANTAVIRUS RACCOON RNDWORMSARCOCYSTIC

RABIES “Hydrophobia” or “Rage” Virus (F. Rhabdoviridae) Only warm-blooded animals Symptoms in 10 days to several months Normally from bite or saliva Can be aerosal - bat caves in TX May be abnormal in appearance or behavior Prophylaxis (pre-exposure vaccines and Control (killed vaccines)

GIARDIASIS Giardiasis, “Beaver Fever” Protozoan (Giardia lamblia) Intestinal disorder Ingest cyst in water, feces or contact with an infected animal (beaver and muskrat) Chronic diarrhea, weight loss and malaise Effective medications; preventative – avoid drinking untreated water

PLAGUE “Black Death”, “Pest” Bacterium (Yersinia pestis); Fleas transmit Isolated cases in West and Texas Wild rodent, rabbits, carnivores Fever, swollen lymph nodes, progressing to high fever, confusion and fatique Untreated – high fatality rate Treatment – tetracycline or other drugs

Loss 1/3 world population (1800s)

ROCKY MOUNTAIN SPOTTED FEVER Bacterium (Rickettsia rickettsii) Ticks transmit (several spp.) Bite or crushed ticks or tick feces Flu-like symptoms; fever, chills, aches Rubber gloves, wash hands, remove ticks Usually 4 hours for tick transmittal

LYME DISEASE Bacterium (Borrelia burgdorferi) Ticks and fleas Old Lyme, Connecticut 3 stages: (1) Flu-like, (2) Small red lesion around bite, (3) Recurrent arthritis Treatment: Antibiotics

TULAREMIA “Rabbit fever or disease”, “Francis’ disease” Bacterium (Francisella tularensis) Many hosts; humans usually infected by rabbits during skinning process, ingestion, or from tick/flea/deerfly bites Symptoms: fever, infected sores, “flu-like” Rabbits with white spots on liver/spleen Rarely fatal; treatable

HISTOPLASMOSIS Fungus (Histoplasma capsulatum) Respiratory ailment – inhale spores Blackbird and pigeon roosts, bat caves, and chicken houses Symptoms highly variable; severe cases resemble tuberculosis

Focal necrosis in liver Abscessed mesenteric lymph node

HANTAVIRUS Group of viruses Infected rodents; urine, feces, and/or saliva – aerosal and direct Kidney, blood, respiratory ailments Can be fatal

RACCOON ROUNDWORM: Intestinal roundworm, Baylisascaris procyonis Infectious: cottontail rabbits, mammals, birds Signs: neurological disease; circling, abnormal posture, blindness Lesions: CNS, larvae as white nodules in abdominal or thoracic viscera

SARCOCYSTOSIS “Rice breast”, “Long grain rice disease” Protozoan (Sarcocystis spp.) Most vertebrates; intermediate host

CUTANEOUS WARBLES Larval flies (Cuterebra spp.) Signs: increased scratching/grooming Lesions: localized swellings (0.5-1”) Squirrels and rodents; common in SE Occasionally debilitating Restricted to skin

DISEASE DIAGNOSIS Hunters typically report abnormalities Some gross lesions are specific and indicative of a specific disease USFWS Wildlife Health Lab State Agency University – Medical, Veterinary

Avian Pox

2 Good Field Books Field Guide to Wildlife Diseases, General Field Procedures and Diseases of Migratory Birds (USDI – Madison, WI) Field Manual of Wildlife Diseases in the Southeastern United States (Davidson, W.R. and V.F. Nettles – SCWDS)