New Parasite for Waterfowl

A myxozoan parasite has been found in waterfowl here in the US, the first time a typically "cold-blooded" parasite has been found in "warm-blooded" animals. (News source.)

Bat Disease Spreading

White-nose syndrome continues to kill bats in New York and Vermont. Not much is known aboudt the disease, including whether humans (particularly cavers) are helping to spread it or if it is a potential health hazard to humans. (News source.)

Panda Outbreak

A parasitic disease has dramatically risen in wild populations of the giant panda. As the panda population density grows, it creates a situation where a new disease could be particularly devastating. (News source.)

New Ebola Virus

The CDC has identified a new strain of Ebola, from western Uganda. This is the fifth known strain. (News source)

Leeches and Salamanders

A new vector is reported for infections in certain newt populations:

"Parasite-carrying bloodsucking leeches may be delivering a one-two punch to newts, according to biologists, who say the discovery may provide clues to disease outbreaks in amphibians.
"The findings could also lead to a better understanding of diseases affecting humans, such as malaria, chagas disease and sleeping sickness. All these diseases are transmitted through a vector, an organism that spreads disease from one animal to another.
"The researchers found evidence for leech-borne transmission of a little-known fungus-like organism of the genus Ichthyophonus, which infects the muscles of red-spotted newts and other amphibians in North America. It does not appear to kill amphibians but might affect their ability to reproduce. 'This is the first evidence that newts are getting infected through the bites of leeches,' said Thomas R. Raffel, a postdoctoral researcher at Penn State's Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, and the study's lead author.
"Early infections in the newts appear as clusters of small dark dots under the skin, which can later develop into a large area of swollen muscle. The swollen muscle contains many spores (also called spherules), each of which contains hundreds of infectious cells called endospores. Raffel and his colleagues think that the infection is transmitted when one of these spores bursts open and releases its endospores onto the mouthparts of a feeding leech. Their findings are outlined in the January issue of Journal of Parasitology." ...
"Raffel, whose work is funded by the National Science Foundation, says 'when a leech sticks its proboscis into an infected newt, either the mechanical action of the probe or the anti-inflammatory chemicals injected by the leech, could be used by the parasite as a cue to release its packet of spores. The spores could then latch on to the leech's proboscis, and the infection would be passed along to the next newt the leech bites.'
"The researchers point out that Ichthyophonus might not be as contagious as other leech-transmitted amphibian parasites. That is because this particular parasite lodges itself in muscle tissue instead of blood. A leech would have to be feeding right on top of a newt's infected muscle in order to transmit the infection. However, it is still unclear if the spores are multiplying within the leech, or simply ferrying on its proboscis.
"Even though the infection is not fatal to the newts, it could affect their numbers, says Raffel. 'When newts get infected, they often stop breeding, apparently to shore up their immune system to fight off the disease. But that comes at the cost of having fewer offspring,' he adds."