From the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's "One Health" bulletin. (this newsletter is for zoonotic and other animal disease. The following is likely NOT an event transmittable between humans and animals, but because the cause is unknown, it is reported here).
"Avian Die-Off
A shorebird and waterfowl morbidity and mortality event began the last week in July and continues to a lesser extent on Poplar Island in Talbot County. Over 500 dead birds were reported during the past six weeks. Live birds were admitted to a wildlife rehabilitation facility and birds that recovered were released at a different location. Clinical signs include paralysis of leg, neck and wing muscles resulting in inability to fly, feed, and escape from capture. Avian botulism (a naturally occurring disease involving a bacterial toxin) is suspected and occurs yearly in Maryland during late summer and early fall months. It usually subsides with the onset of cooler weather. Blue-green algae blooms have also been noted in the mid-shore region during the die-off period and water and tissue samples are being analyzed for microcystins.
Additional information on botulism and algal blooms is provided in the NWHC Field
Manual for Wildlife Diseases:
http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/disease_information/avian_botulism/
http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/publications/field_manual/chapter_38.pdf
http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/publications/field_manual/chapter_36.pdf "
Joanne Howl, DVM
<jovet...>
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