Jeffrey M Lorch
Jeff Lorch is a Microbiologist at the National Wildlife Health Center.
He received bachelor degrees in Bacteriology and Wildlife Ecology and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Environmental Toxicology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Since joining the USGS, Dr. Lorch has devoted his career to investigating and diagnosing wildlife mortality events and studying emerging wildlife diseases. Presently, his work focuses on disease ecology and management of bat white-nose syndrome and snake fungal disease, surveillance for Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (the fungus that causes salamander chytridiomycosis), and development of molecular methods for detection of wildlife pathogens.
Professional Experience
2015 – Present, Microbiologist, National Wildlife Health Center
2012 – 2015, Research Associate, University of Wisconsin – Madison
Education and Certifications
Ph.D. Molecular and Environmental Toxicology, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 2012
B.S. Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 2005
B.S. Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 2005
Affiliations and Memberships*
2015 – Present, Honorary Associate, Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin – Madison
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 73
Evidence of vertical transmission of the snake fungal pathogen Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola
Snake fungal disease (ophidiomycosis) is an emerging infection of snakes caused by Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola. Little is known about mechanisms of this pathogen's transmission and its implications for conservation of wild snake populations. We report four cases with evidence of vertical transmission of O. ophiodiicola from dam to offspring.
Authors
Anne G. Stengle, Terence M. Farrell, Keenan S Freitas, Craig M. Lind, Steven J. Price, Brian O Butler, Tigran Tadevosyan, Marcos Isidoro Ayza, Daniel Taylor, Megan Winzeler, Jeffrey M. Lorch
Interactive effects of food supplementation and snake fungal disease on pregnant Pygmy Rattlesnakes and their offspring
In viviparous organisms, the ability to feed while pregnant may mitigate energetic trade-offs experienced during the reproductive process and enhance fecundity. However, anorexia during pregnancy has been reported in many crotaline snakes. The potential costs and benefits of feeding while pregnant are not completely described in the literature, and experimental studies have been...
Authors
Craig M. Lind, Amber Clark, Sarah A Smiley-Walters, Daniel Taylor, Marcos Isidoro Ayza, Jeffrey M. Lorch, Terence M. Farrell
A novel host-adapted strain of Salmonella Typhimurium causes disease in olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) in the Pacific.
Salmonella spp. are frequently shed by wildlife including turtles, but S. enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium or lesions associated with Salmonella are rare in turtles. Between 1996 and 2016, we necropsied 127 apparently healthy pelagic olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) that died from drowning bycatch in fisheries and 44 live or freshly dead stranded turtles from the...
Authors
Thierry M. Work, Julie Dagenais, Brian A. Stacy, Jason T. Ladner, Jeffrey M. Lorch, George H. Balazs, Elias Barquero-Calvo, Brenda M. Berlowski-Zier, Renee Breeden, Natalia Corrales-Gómez, Rocio Gonzalez-Barrientos, Heather S. Harris, Gabriela Hernández-Mora, Angel Herrera-Ulloa, Shoreh Hesami, T. W. Jones, Juan M. Morales, Terry M. Norton, Robert Rameyer, Daniel Taylor, Thomas B. Waltzek
Virally-vectored vaccine candidates against white-nose syndrome induce anti-fungal immune response in little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus)
White-nose syndrome (WNS) caused by the fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd) has killed millions of North American hibernating bats. Currently, methods to prevent the disease are limited. We conducted two trials to assess potential WNS vaccine candidates in wild-caught Myotis lucifugus. In a pilot study, we immunized bats with one of four vaccine treatments or phosphate-buffered...
Authors
Tonie E. Rocke, Brock Kingstad-Bakke, Marcel Wuthrich, Benjamin Stading, Rachel C. Abbott, Marcos Isidoro Ayza, Hannah E. Dobson, Lucas dos Santos Dias, Kevin Galles, Julia S. Lankton, Elizabeth Falendysz, Jeffrey M. Lorch, J. Scott Fites, Jaime Lopera-Madrid, Bruce S. Klein, Jorge E. Osorio, J. W. C. White
Mortality due to Tyzzer's disease of muskrats in northern Ohio, USA
In 2017, we investigated a mortality event of muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) in Northwest Ohio, USA, and determined the causes of death to be from Tyzzer's disease due to Clostridium piliforme and Klebsiella pneumoniae septicemia. The gross presentation resembled tularemia, which highlighted the importance of a complete diagnostic investigation.
Authors
Daniel A. Grear, Julia S. Lankton, Sara Zaleski, Mark Witt, Jeffrey M. Lorch
Detection of Bisgaard taxon 40 in Rhinoceros Auklets (Cerorhinca monocerata) with pneumonia and septicemia from a mortality event in Washington, USA
We isolated Bisgaard taxon 40 from Rhinoceros Auklets (Cerorhinca monocerata) with pneumonia and septicemia from Washington, US, found dead in 2016. Previously isolated only from the respiratory tract of a gull (Laridae), little is known about its pathogenic potential and whether it acts as a primary or opportunistic pathogen.
Authors
Susan Knowles, Barbara Bodenstein, Brenda M. Berlowski-Zier, Susan M. Thomas, Scott F Pearson, Jeffrey M. Lorch
Field diagnostics and seasonality of Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola in wild snake populations
Snake fungal disease (SFD) is an emerging disease caused by the fungal pathogen, Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola. Clinical signs of SFD include dermal lesions, including regional and local edema, crusts, and ulcers. Snake fungal disease is widespread in the Eastern United States, yet there are limited data on how clinical signs of SFD compare with laboratory diagnostics. We compared two...
Authors
Jennifer M. McKenzie, Steven J. Price, J. Leo Fleckenstein, Andrea N. Drayer, Grant M. Connette, Elizabeth A. Bohuski, Jeffrey M. Lorch
Seasonal sex steroids indicate reproductive costs associated with snake fungal disease
Emergent diseases may result in population declines by inducing mortality directly or through sublethal effects on host reproduction. Snake fungal disease (SFD) is an emerging threat to biodiversity, but the sublethal impacts of disease on host fitness are poorly characterized in snakes. The cryptic nature of most snakes makes direct assessment of the fitness consequences of SFD...
Authors
Craig M. Lind, Jeffrey M. Lorch, Ignacio T. Moore, Ben J. Vernasco, Terence M. Farrell
Mortality of little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus carissima) naturally exposed to microcystin-LR
We describe a die-off of little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus carissima) associated with acute intoxication with microcystin-LR in 2016 at Scofield Reservoir in Utah. High levels of this cyanotoxin in water from the reservoir and gastrointestinal content of bats supported this diagnosis.
Authors
Marcos Isidoro Ayza, Lee C. Jones, Robert J. Dusek, Jeffrey M. Lorch, Jan H. Landsberg, Patrick Wilson, Stephanie Graham
Patterns of circulating corticosterone in a population of rattlesnakes afflicted with snake fungal disease: Stress hormones as a potential mediator of seasonal cycles in disease severity and outcomes
Snake fungal disease (SFD) is an emerging threat to snake populations in the United States. Fungal pathogens are often associated with a physiological stress response mediated by the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA), and afflicted individuals may incur steep coping costs. The severity of SFD can vary seasonally; however, little is known regarding (1) how SFD infection relates to...
Authors
Craig M. Lind, Ignacio T. Moore, Çağlar Akçay, Ben J. Vernasco, Jeffrey M. Lorch, Terence M. Farrell
Malassezia vespertilionis sp. nov.: A new cold-tolerant species of yeast isolated from bats
Malassezia is a genus of medically-important, lipid-dependent yeasts that live on the skin of warm-blooded animals. The 17 described species have been documented primarily on humans and domestic animals, but few studies have examined Malassezia species associated with more diverse host groups such as wildlife. While investigating the skin mycobiota of healthy bats, we isolated a...
Authors
Jeffrey M. Lorch, Jonathan M. Palmer, Karen J. Vanderwolf, Katie Z. Schmidt, Michelle L. Verant, Theodore J. Weller, David S. Blehert
Phylogenetics of a fungal invasion: Origins and widespread dispersal of white-nose syndrome
Globalization has facilitated the worldwide movement and introduction of pathogens, but epizoological reconstructions of these invasions are often hindered by limited sampling and insufficient genetic resolution among isolates. Pseudogymnoascus destructans, a fungal pathogen causing the epizootic of white-nose syndrome in North American bats, has exhibited few genetic polymorphisms in...
Authors
Kevin P. Drees, Jeffrey M. Lorch, Sebastein J. Puechmaille, Katy L. Parise, Gudrun Wibbelt, Joseph R. Hoyt, Keping Sun, Ariunbold Jargalsaikhan, Munkhnast Dalannast, Jonathan M. Palmer, Daniel L. Linder, Marm Kilpatrick, Talima Pearson, Paul S. Keim, David S. Blehert, Jeffrey T. Foster
Non-USGS Publications**
Kapfer, J.M., Sloss, B.L., Schuurman, G.W., Paloski, R.A., and Lorch, J.M. 2013. Evidence of hybridization between common gartersnakes (Thamnophis sirtalis) and Butler's gartersnake (Thamnophis butleri) in Wisconsin (USA). Journal of Herpetology 47:400-405.
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
Filter Total Items: 14
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Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 73
Evidence of vertical transmission of the snake fungal pathogen Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola
Snake fungal disease (ophidiomycosis) is an emerging infection of snakes caused by Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola. Little is known about mechanisms of this pathogen's transmission and its implications for conservation of wild snake populations. We report four cases with evidence of vertical transmission of O. ophiodiicola from dam to offspring.
Authors
Anne G. Stengle, Terence M. Farrell, Keenan S Freitas, Craig M. Lind, Steven J. Price, Brian O Butler, Tigran Tadevosyan, Marcos Isidoro Ayza, Daniel Taylor, Megan Winzeler, Jeffrey M. Lorch
Interactive effects of food supplementation and snake fungal disease on pregnant Pygmy Rattlesnakes and their offspring
In viviparous organisms, the ability to feed while pregnant may mitigate energetic trade-offs experienced during the reproductive process and enhance fecundity. However, anorexia during pregnancy has been reported in many crotaline snakes. The potential costs and benefits of feeding while pregnant are not completely described in the literature, and experimental studies have been...
Authors
Craig M. Lind, Amber Clark, Sarah A Smiley-Walters, Daniel Taylor, Marcos Isidoro Ayza, Jeffrey M. Lorch, Terence M. Farrell
A novel host-adapted strain of Salmonella Typhimurium causes disease in olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) in the Pacific.
Salmonella spp. are frequently shed by wildlife including turtles, but S. enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium or lesions associated with Salmonella are rare in turtles. Between 1996 and 2016, we necropsied 127 apparently healthy pelagic olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) that died from drowning bycatch in fisheries and 44 live or freshly dead stranded turtles from the...
Authors
Thierry M. Work, Julie Dagenais, Brian A. Stacy, Jason T. Ladner, Jeffrey M. Lorch, George H. Balazs, Elias Barquero-Calvo, Brenda M. Berlowski-Zier, Renee Breeden, Natalia Corrales-Gómez, Rocio Gonzalez-Barrientos, Heather S. Harris, Gabriela Hernández-Mora, Angel Herrera-Ulloa, Shoreh Hesami, T. W. Jones, Juan M. Morales, Terry M. Norton, Robert Rameyer, Daniel Taylor, Thomas B. Waltzek
Virally-vectored vaccine candidates against white-nose syndrome induce anti-fungal immune response in little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus)
White-nose syndrome (WNS) caused by the fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd) has killed millions of North American hibernating bats. Currently, methods to prevent the disease are limited. We conducted two trials to assess potential WNS vaccine candidates in wild-caught Myotis lucifugus. In a pilot study, we immunized bats with one of four vaccine treatments or phosphate-buffered...
Authors
Tonie E. Rocke, Brock Kingstad-Bakke, Marcel Wuthrich, Benjamin Stading, Rachel C. Abbott, Marcos Isidoro Ayza, Hannah E. Dobson, Lucas dos Santos Dias, Kevin Galles, Julia S. Lankton, Elizabeth Falendysz, Jeffrey M. Lorch, J. Scott Fites, Jaime Lopera-Madrid, Bruce S. Klein, Jorge E. Osorio, J. W. C. White
Mortality due to Tyzzer's disease of muskrats in northern Ohio, USA
In 2017, we investigated a mortality event of muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) in Northwest Ohio, USA, and determined the causes of death to be from Tyzzer's disease due to Clostridium piliforme and Klebsiella pneumoniae septicemia. The gross presentation resembled tularemia, which highlighted the importance of a complete diagnostic investigation.
Authors
Daniel A. Grear, Julia S. Lankton, Sara Zaleski, Mark Witt, Jeffrey M. Lorch
Detection of Bisgaard taxon 40 in Rhinoceros Auklets (Cerorhinca monocerata) with pneumonia and septicemia from a mortality event in Washington, USA
We isolated Bisgaard taxon 40 from Rhinoceros Auklets (Cerorhinca monocerata) with pneumonia and septicemia from Washington, US, found dead in 2016. Previously isolated only from the respiratory tract of a gull (Laridae), little is known about its pathogenic potential and whether it acts as a primary or opportunistic pathogen.
Authors
Susan Knowles, Barbara Bodenstein, Brenda M. Berlowski-Zier, Susan M. Thomas, Scott F Pearson, Jeffrey M. Lorch
Field diagnostics and seasonality of Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola in wild snake populations
Snake fungal disease (SFD) is an emerging disease caused by the fungal pathogen, Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola. Clinical signs of SFD include dermal lesions, including regional and local edema, crusts, and ulcers. Snake fungal disease is widespread in the Eastern United States, yet there are limited data on how clinical signs of SFD compare with laboratory diagnostics. We compared two...
Authors
Jennifer M. McKenzie, Steven J. Price, J. Leo Fleckenstein, Andrea N. Drayer, Grant M. Connette, Elizabeth A. Bohuski, Jeffrey M. Lorch
Seasonal sex steroids indicate reproductive costs associated with snake fungal disease
Emergent diseases may result in population declines by inducing mortality directly or through sublethal effects on host reproduction. Snake fungal disease (SFD) is an emerging threat to biodiversity, but the sublethal impacts of disease on host fitness are poorly characterized in snakes. The cryptic nature of most snakes makes direct assessment of the fitness consequences of SFD...
Authors
Craig M. Lind, Jeffrey M. Lorch, Ignacio T. Moore, Ben J. Vernasco, Terence M. Farrell
Mortality of little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus carissima) naturally exposed to microcystin-LR
We describe a die-off of little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus carissima) associated with acute intoxication with microcystin-LR in 2016 at Scofield Reservoir in Utah. High levels of this cyanotoxin in water from the reservoir and gastrointestinal content of bats supported this diagnosis.
Authors
Marcos Isidoro Ayza, Lee C. Jones, Robert J. Dusek, Jeffrey M. Lorch, Jan H. Landsberg, Patrick Wilson, Stephanie Graham
Patterns of circulating corticosterone in a population of rattlesnakes afflicted with snake fungal disease: Stress hormones as a potential mediator of seasonal cycles in disease severity and outcomes
Snake fungal disease (SFD) is an emerging threat to snake populations in the United States. Fungal pathogens are often associated with a physiological stress response mediated by the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA), and afflicted individuals may incur steep coping costs. The severity of SFD can vary seasonally; however, little is known regarding (1) how SFD infection relates to...
Authors
Craig M. Lind, Ignacio T. Moore, Çağlar Akçay, Ben J. Vernasco, Jeffrey M. Lorch, Terence M. Farrell
Malassezia vespertilionis sp. nov.: A new cold-tolerant species of yeast isolated from bats
Malassezia is a genus of medically-important, lipid-dependent yeasts that live on the skin of warm-blooded animals. The 17 described species have been documented primarily on humans and domestic animals, but few studies have examined Malassezia species associated with more diverse host groups such as wildlife. While investigating the skin mycobiota of healthy bats, we isolated a...
Authors
Jeffrey M. Lorch, Jonathan M. Palmer, Karen J. Vanderwolf, Katie Z. Schmidt, Michelle L. Verant, Theodore J. Weller, David S. Blehert
Phylogenetics of a fungal invasion: Origins and widespread dispersal of white-nose syndrome
Globalization has facilitated the worldwide movement and introduction of pathogens, but epizoological reconstructions of these invasions are often hindered by limited sampling and insufficient genetic resolution among isolates. Pseudogymnoascus destructans, a fungal pathogen causing the epizootic of white-nose syndrome in North American bats, has exhibited few genetic polymorphisms in...
Authors
Kevin P. Drees, Jeffrey M. Lorch, Sebastein J. Puechmaille, Katy L. Parise, Gudrun Wibbelt, Joseph R. Hoyt, Keping Sun, Ariunbold Jargalsaikhan, Munkhnast Dalannast, Jonathan M. Palmer, Daniel L. Linder, Marm Kilpatrick, Talima Pearson, Paul S. Keim, David S. Blehert, Jeffrey T. Foster
Non-USGS Publications**
Kapfer, J.M., Sloss, B.L., Schuurman, G.W., Paloski, R.A., and Lorch, J.M. 2013. Evidence of hybridization between common gartersnakes (Thamnophis sirtalis) and Butler's gartersnake (Thamnophis butleri) in Wisconsin (USA). Journal of Herpetology 47:400-405.
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
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*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government