Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Publications

View citations of publications by National Wildlife Health Center scientists since our founding in 1975.  Access to full-text is provided where possible.

Wildlife Health Bulletins

Sanderling on sand.

Wildlife Health Bulletins are distributed to natural resource/conservation agencies to provide and promote information exchange about significant wildlife health threats.

Access Bulletins

Wildlife Disease Case Definitions

Lesser black-backed gull

Case definitions provide a standardized, science-based set of criteria for diagnosing disease and pathogens. This manual provides case definitions for selected diseases of importance to wildlife in Canada and the United States.

Access Case Definitions

Additional Resources

Filter Total Items: 1634

Advances in coral immunity ‘omics in response to disease outbreaks

Coral disease has progressively become one of the most pressing issues affecting coral reef survival. In the last 50 years, several reefs throughout the Caribbean have been severely impacted by increased frequency and intensity of disease outbreaks leading to coral death. A recent example of this is stony coral tissue loss disease which has quickly spread throughout the Caribbean...
Authors
Nikki Traylor-Knowles, Andrew C. Baker, Kelsey M. Beavers, Neha Garg, Jeffrey R. Guyon, Aine C. Hawthorn, Nicholas J. MacKnight, Mónica Medina, Laura D. Mydlarz, Esther C. Peters, Julia Marie Stewart, Michael S. Studivan, Joshua D. Voss
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Immunogenicity, safety, and anti-viral efficacy of a subunit SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate in captive black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes) and their susceptibility to viral challenge

A preliminary vaccination trial against the emergent pathogen, SARS-CoV-2, was completed in captive black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes; BFF) to assess safety, immunogenicity, and anti-viral efficacy. Vaccination and boosting of 15 BFF with purified SARS-CoV-2 S1 subunit protein produced a nearly 150-fold increase in mean antibody titers compared to pre-vaccination titers. Serum...
Authors
Ariel Elizabeth Leon, Della Garelle, Airn Hartwig, Elizabeth Falendysz, Hon S. Ip, Julia S. Lankton, Tyler Tretten, Terry Spraker, Richard Bowen, Tonie E. Rocke
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

The future of fungi: Threats and opportunities

The fungal kingdom represents an extraordinary diversity of organisms with profound impacts across animal, plant, and ecosystem health. Fungi simultaneously support life, by forming beneficial symbioses with plants and producing life-saving medicines, and bring death, by causing devastating diseases in humans, plants, and animals. With climate change, increased antimicrobial resistance...
Authors
Nicola T. Case, Judith Berman, David S. Blehert, Robert A. Cramer, Christina A. Cuomo, Cameron R. Currie, Iuliana V. Ene, Matthew C. Fisher, Lillian K. Fritz-Laylin, Aleeza C. Gerstein, N. Louise Glass, Neil A. R. Gow, Sarah J. Gurr, Chris Todd Hittinger, Tobias M. Hohl, Iliyan D. Iliev, Timothy Y. James, Hailing Jin, Bruce S. Klein, James W. Kronstad, Jeffrey M. Lorch, Victoria McGovern, Aaron P. Mitchell, Julia A. Segre, Rebecca S. Shapiro, Donald C. Sheppard, Anita Sil, Jason E. Stajich, Eva E. Stukenbrock, John W. Taylor, Dawn Thompson, Gerard D. Wright, Joseph Heitman, Leah E. Cowen
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Potential effects of environmental conditions on prairie dog flea development and implications for sylvatic plague epizootics

Fleas are common ectoparasites of vertebrates worldwide and vectors of many pathogens causing disease, such as sylvatic plague in prairie dog colonies. Development of fleas is regulated by environmental conditions, especially temperature and relative humidity. Development rates are typically slower at low temperatures and faster at high temperatures, which are bounded by lower and upper...
Authors
Michael D. Samuel, Julia E. Poje, Tonie E. Rocke, Marco E. Metzger
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Diagnostic testing of chronic wasting disease in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) by RT-QuIC using multiple tissues

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal prion disease affecting cervids (deer, elk, moose). Current methods to monitor individual disease state include highly invasive antemortem rectal biopsy or postmortem brain biopsy. Efficient, sensitive, and selective antemortem and postmortem testing of populations would increase knowledge of the dynamics of CWD epizootics as well as provide a...
Authors
Kate Burgener, Stuart Siegfried Lichtenberg, Aaron Lomax, Daniel J. Storm, Daniel P. Walsh, Joel Pedersen
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Cooperative Research Units, National Wildlife Health Center

Biosafety practices when working with bats: A guide to field research considerations

Introduction: Field work with bats is an important contribution to many areas of research in environmental biology and ecology, as well as microbiology. Work with bats poses hazards such as bites and scratches, and the potential for exposure to infectious pathogens such as rabies virus. It also exposes researchers to many other potential hazards inherent to field work, such as...
Authors
Alvaro Aguilar-Setién, Nidia Aréchiga-Ceballos, Gary A. Balsamo, Amy J. Behrman, Hannah K. Frank, Gary R. Fujimoto, Elizabeth Gilman Duane, Thomas Warner Hudson, Shelley M. Jones, Luis A. Ochoa Carrera, Gregory L. Powell, Carrie Alison Smith, Joni Triantis Van Sickle, Susan E. Vleck
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Social effects of rabies infection in male vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus)

Rabies virus (RABV) transmitted by the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) poses a threat to agricultural development and public health throughout the Neotropics. The ecology and evolution of rabies host-pathogen dynamics are influenced by two infection-induced behavioral changes. RABV-infected hosts often exhibit increased aggression which facilitates transmission, and rabies also...
Authors
Elsa M. Cárdenas-Canales, Sebastian Stockmaier, Eleanor Cronin, Tonie E. Rocke, Jorge E. Osorio, Gerald G. Carter
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Biological Threats and Invasive Species Research Program, Species Management Research Program, National Wildlife Health Center

Evaluating the effect of nuclear inclusion X (NIX) infections on Pacific razor clam populations

ABSTRACT: Nuclear inclusion X (NIX), the etiological agent of bacterial gill disease in Pacific razor clams Siliqua patula, was associated with host mortality events in coastal Washington State, USA, during the mid-1980s. Ongoing observations of truncated razor clam size distributions in Kalaloch Beach, Washington, raised concerns that NIX continues to impact populations. We conducted a...
Authors
Maya Groner, Paul Hershberger, Steven C. Fradkin, Carla M. Conway, Aine C. Hawthorn, Maureen K. Purcell
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center, Western Fisheries Research Center, Fish Health Program (FHP), Marrowstone Marine Field Station (MMFS)

A recombinant rabies vaccine that prevents viral shedding in rabid common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus)

Vampire bat transmitted rabies (VBR) is a continuing burden to public health and agricultural sectors in Latin America, despite decades-long efforts to control the disease by culling bat populations. Culling has been shown to disperse bats, leading to an increased spread of rabies. Thus, non-lethal strategies to control VBR, such as vaccination, are desired. Here, we evaluated the safety...
Authors
Elsa M. Cárdenas-Canales, Andres Velasco-Villa, James A. Ellison, Panayampalli S. Satheshkumar, Jorge E. Osario, Tonie E. Rocke
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Biological Threats and Invasive Species Research Program, National Wildlife Health Center

Second round of an interlaboratory comparison of SARS-CoV2 molecular detection assays used by 45 veterinary diagnostic laboratories in the United States

The COVID-19 pandemic presents a continued public health challenge. Veterinary diagnostic laboratories in the United States use RT-rtPCR for animal testing, and many laboratories are certified for testing human samples; hence, ensuring that laboratories have sensitive and specific SARS-CoV2 testing methods is a critical component of the pandemic response. In 2020, the FDA Veterinary...
Authors
Kaiping Deng, Steffen Uhlig, Laura B. Goodman, Hon S. Ip, Mary Lea Killiam, Sarah Nemser, Jodie Ulaszek, Shannon Kiener, Matthew Kmet, Kirstin Frost, Karina Hettwer, Bertrand Colson, Kapil Nichani, Anja Schlierf, Andriy Tkachenko, Mothomang Mlalazi Oyinloye, Scott Andrew, Ravinder Reddy, Gregory H. Tyson
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Divergent gene expression profiles in Alaskan sea otters: An indicator of chronic domoic acid exposure?

An opportunistic investigation into ecosystem instability in Kachemak Bay (KBay), Alaska, has led us to investigate exposure to toxic algae in sea otters. We used gene expression to explore the physiological health of sea otters sampled in KBay in May 2019. We found altered levels of gene transcripts in comparison with reference sea otters from clinically normal, oil-exposed, and...
Authors
Lizabeth Bowen, Susan Knowles, Kathi Lefebvre, Michelle St Martin, Michael Murray, Kimberly A. Kloecker, Daniel Monson, Ben Weitzman, Brenda Ballachey, Heather Coletti, Shannon C. Waters, C Cummings
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center, National Wildlife Health Center, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Morbidity and mortality of Hawaiin geese (Branta sandvicensis) and Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) associated with reticuloendotheliosis virus

Only one virus, Avipox, has been documented previously in wild birds in Hawaii. Using immunohistochemistry and PCR, we found that two native threatened Hawaiian Geese (Branta sandvicensis), one with multicentric histiocytoma and the other with toxoplasmosis, and one Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) with avian pox were infected with reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV). The virus...
Authors
Thierry M. Work, Renee Breeden, Julie Dagenais, Robert Rameyer, Holly Sellers, Hon S. Ip, James W. Casey
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Biological Threats and Invasive Species Research Program, Species Management Research Program, National Wildlife Health Center
Was this page helpful?