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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

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

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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.

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Additional Resources

Filter Total Items: 1613

Removal of chronic Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae carrier ewes eliminates pneumonia in a bighorn sheep population

Chronic pathogen carriage is one mechanism that allows diseases to persist in populations. We hypothesized that persistent or recurrent pneumonia in bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis ) populations may be caused by chronic carriers of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae (Mo ). Our experimental approach allowed us to address a conservation need while investigating the role of chronic carriage in disease persisten
Authors
Tyler Garwood, Chadwick P. Lehman, Daniel P. Walsh, E. Frances Cassirer, Thomas E. Besser, Jonathan A. Jenks
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Clinical presentation and serological responses to natural outbreaks of rabies in a captive colony of common vampire bats

We report mortality events in a group of 123 common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) captured in México and housed for a rabies vaccine efficacy study in Madison, Wisconsin. Bat mortalities occurred in México and Wisconsin, but rabies cases reported herein are only those that occurred after arrival in Madison (n = 15). Bats were confirmed positive for rabies virus (RABV) by the direct fluorescent
Authors
Elsa M. Cárdenas-Canales, Crystal M. Gigante, Lauren A. Greenberg, Andres Velasco-Villa, James A. Ellison, Panayampalli S. Satheshkumar, Lex G Medina-Magües, Richard Griesser, Elizabeth Falendysz, Ignacio Amezcua, Jorge E. Osorio, Tonie E. Rocke
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Serosurvey of coyotes (Canis latrans), foxes (Vulpes vulpes, Urocyon cinereoargenteus) and raccoons (Procyon lotor) for exposure to influenza A viruses in the USA

We tested coyote (Canis latrans), fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus, Vulpes vulpes), and raccoon (Procyon lotor) sera for influenza A virus (IAV) exposure. We found 2/139 samples (1 coyote, 1 raccoon) had IAV antibodies and hemagglutination inhibition assays revealed the antibodies to the 2009/2010 H1N1 human pandemic virus or to the 2007 human seasonal H1N1 virus.
Authors
Marit A. Bakken, Sean Nashold, Jeffrey S. Hall
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Differences in antibody responses against Chelonid Alphaherpesvirus 5 (ChHV5) suggest differences in virus biology in ChHV5-seropositive green turtles from Hawaii and ChHV5-seropositive green turtles from Florida

Fibropapillomatosis (FP) is a tumor disease associated with a herpesvirus (chelonid herpesvirus 5 [ChHV5]) that affects mainly green turtles globally. Understanding the epidemiology of FP has been hampered by a lack of robust serological assays to monitor exposure to ChHV5. This is due in part to an inability to efficiently culture the virus in vitro for neutralization assays. Here, we expressed t
Authors
Thierry M. Work, Julie Dagenais, Anna Willimann, George Balazs, Kate Mansfield, Mathias Ackermann
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Investigating maternity roost selection by northern long-eared bats at three sites in Wisconsin

One of the North American bat species most impacted by white-nose syndrome (WNS) is the northern long-eared bat Myotis septentrionalis, which as a result has been listed under the Endangered Species Act. WNS was first detected in Wisconsin in 2014. Unfortunately, little is known regarding the ecology of M. septentrionalis in this state pre-WNS to guide management supporting post-WNS recovery effor
Authors
Brenna A. Hyzy, Robin E. Russell, Alex Silvis, W. Mark Ford, Jason Riddle, Kevin Russell
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Extreme mortality and reproductive failure of common murres resulting from the northeast Pacific marine heatwave of 2014-2016

About 62,000 dead or dying common murres (Uria aalge), the trophically dominant fish-eating seabird of the North Pacific, washed ashore between summer 2015 and spring 2016 on beaches from California to Alaska. Most birds were severely emaciated and, so far, no evidence for anything other than starvation was found to explain this mass mortality. Three-quarters of murres were found in the Gulf of Al
Authors
John F. Piatt, Julia K. Parrish, Heather M. Renner, Sarah K. Schoen, Timothy Jones, Mayumi L. Arimitsu, Kathy J. Kuletz, Barbara Bodenstein, Marisol Garcia-Reyes, Rebecca Duerr, Robin Corcoran, Robb S.A. Kaler, Gerard J. McChesney, Richard T. Golightly, Heather A. Coletti, Robert M. Suryan, Hillary K. Burgess, Jackie Lindsey, Kirsten Lindquist, Peter Warzybok, Jaime Jahncke, Jan Roletto, William J. Sydeman
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center, Alaska Science Center

Standardized guide to the examination and necropsy of the horseshoe crab using Limulus polyphemus as Limulidae prototype

The Atlantic, or American, horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) has existed largely unchanged for over 100 million years. Millions of individuals are commonly observed ashore in spring and summer months during spawning events along the entire North American coastline expanding from the East to the Gulf coasts of the United States and Mexico. Other species can be found in the Indian and Pacific Ocea
Authors
Katie Roorda, Jill Arnold, Carol Meteyer, Brent Whitaker
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, National Wildlife Health Center

Outside the box: Working with wildlife in biocontainment

Research with captive wildlife in Animal Biosafety Level 2 (ABSL2) and 3 (ABSL3) facilities is becoming increasingly necessary as emerging and re-emerging diseases involving wildlife have increasing impacts on human, animal, and environmental health. Utilizing wildlife species in a research facility often requires outside the box thinking with specialized knowledge, practices, facilities, and equi
Authors
Elizabeth Falendysz, Dana Marie Calhoun, Carrie Alison Smith, Jonathan M. Sleeman
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Contrasting demographic responses of toad populations to regionally synchronous pathogen (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) dynamics

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), a fungal pathogen that causes amphibian chytridiomycosis, has been implicated in population declines globally. To better understand how Bd affects survival and how threats vary spatially and temporally, we conducted long-term (range: 9–13 yrs) capture-recapture studies of boreal toads (Anaxyrus boreas) from three similar communities in western Montana. We also
Authors
Blake R. Hossack, Robin E. Russell, Rebecca McCaffery
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center

Postmortem evaluation of reintroduced migratory whooping cranes (Grus americana) in eastern North America

We reviewed necropsy records of 124 Whooping Cranes (Grus americana) recovered following reintroduction of 268 individuals from 2001 to 2016 in the eastern US. Causes of death were determined in 62% (77/124) of cases facilitated by active monitoring that limited decomposition and scavenging artifact. The greatest proportions of mortality were caused by predation (0.468; 95% confidence interval 0.3
Authors
Taylor J. Yaw, Kimberli J.G. Miller, Julia S. Lankton, Barry K. Hartup
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Inactivation of viable surrogates for the select agents virulent Newcastle disease virus and highly pathogenic avian influenza virus using either commercial lysis buffer or heat

Introduction:Federal Select Agent Program regulations require laboratories to document a validated procedure for inactivating select agents prior to movement outside registered space. Avian influenza viruses and virulent Newcastle disease virus (vNDV) are cultured in chicken amnio-allantoic fluid (AAF), but the efficacy of commercial lysis buffers to inactivate viruses in protein-rich media has no
Authors
Katrina E. Alger, Hon S. Ip, Jeffrey S. Hall, Sean Nashold, Katherine Richgels, Carrie Alison Smith
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center

Successful molecular detection studies require clear communication among diverse research partners

Molecular detection techniques are powerful tools used in ecological applications ranging from diet analyses to pathogen surveillance. Research partnerships that use these tools often involve collaboration among professionals with expertise in field biology, laboratory techniques, quantitative modeling, wildlife disease, and natural resource management. However, in many cases, each of these collab
Authors
B. A. Mosher, R. F. Bernard, Jeffrey M. Lorch, D. A. W. Miller, Katherine L. D. Richgels, C. LeAnn White, Evan H. Campbell Grant
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Eastern Ecological Science Center, National Wildlife Health Center