plague in mountain lions--old news

[Emily]

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Plague blamed for biologist's death
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By Astrid Galvan, The Arizona Republic
An Arizona-based wildlife biologist likely died of the plague, officials from Grand Canyon National Park announced on Friday.
Autopsy reports for Eric York, a 37-year-old wildlife biologist for the National Park Service, showed that he had plague in his body.

Officials said that 49 of York's coworkers and others who came within a 6-foot diameter of him were placed on antibiotics. As of Wednesday, they were still on medication, but none had become ill or displayed symptoms, officials said.

Officials said York was most likely exposed to the plague when he performed an autopsy on a mountain lion that had been infected and most likely killed by it. York was the only person to come in contact with the dead mountain lion, according to officials.

York presented symptoms of exposure on Oct. 30, three days after the mountain lion autopsy. He went to Grand Canyon Clinic, located on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, with flu-like symptoms. York was sent home that day because the symptoms of plague are difficult to detect and are often confused with the flu, officials said.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Canyon | National Park Service | Grand Canyon
York, a lifetime wildlife enthusiast from Massachusetts, was found dead in his home on Nov. 2.

York had been located at the Grand Canyon as an employee of the National Park Service for two years, officials said. His family will hold a private memorial service for him on Saturday.

? Copyright 2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.


http://www.uwyo.edu/news/showrelease.asp?id=12044

Plague Found in Jackson-area Mountain Lions


Dec. 14, 2006 -- Mountain lion hunters and the owners of domestic cats in Jackson and the Greater Yellowstone Area are urged to protect themselves and their animals against the plague, according to the University of Wyoming’s Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory (WSVL).

A mountain lion and her kitten found dead this fall near Jackson have tested positive for the plague, said Ken Mills, a professor in the UW College of Agriculture’s Department of Veterinary Sciences, which manages the WSVL.

Mills said hunters skinning an animal with the plague are susceptible to the disease as are owners of domestic cats stricken with the disease. Cats can contract the plague by eating an infected rodent or by being bitten by fleas from an infected host.

The two mountain lions, along with a third mountain lion that died from the plague earlier this year in the Greater Yellowstone Area, were part of Beringia South’s Teton cougar project. The Kelly, Wyo.-based nonprofit research and educational organization is studying the habits and population of mountain lions in the area and their relationship to wolves.

A fourth cougar that died of the plague last year in the area was part of a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society. It was a 10-year-old female in excellent condition, said Cynthia Tate, assistant veterinarian for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Tate said Beringia South and the Wildlife Conservation Society have collared a number of mountain lions, including the four found dead.

“The interesting thing about the latest finding is that the mother and one of her kittens died from the plague, but the other kitten is doing fine,” Tate said. “We don’t know if the other kitten was exposed and survived. A question that intrigues me is how many exposed cougars actually get sick, and what is the ultimate outcome? What is the proportion of sick cougars that die versus those that recover."

Tate added that both kittens were weaned but were still very dependent on their mother. The kitten that survived was sent to the G&F’s Tom Thorne/Beth Williams Wildlife Research Center at Sybille.

Tate said the biologists who discovered the dead mountain lion and her kitten were potentially exposed to the plague, but they are doing fine.

There have been five cases of humans in Wyoming contracting the disease since 1978, according to the Wyoming Department of Health. They were in Goshen, Laramie, Sheridan and Washakie counties. The 1992 Sheridan County case resulted in death after a man contracted the disease when skinning an infected bobcat.

Tate said finding the plague in animals such as mountain lions and bobcats -- and occasionally domestic cats -- is not surprising because they eat rodents, and rodents are the typical carriers.

If the plague is localized in the lymph nodes, Mills said, it’s typically not contagious to people. If the disease spreads to the lungs, however, it can cause pneumonic plague, which can be fatal to not only the animal but humans exposed to the animal.

Those who hunt or trap predators can protect themselves when skinning an animal by wearing long rubber or latex gloves, Tate said. They should avoid contact with an animal that appears sick (rough hair coat and/or drainage out of the eyes), and immediately contact the G&F. Tate cautions that animals having the plague may not appear sick because the disease can kill rapidly.

“This is a very acute disease,” she said. “The most recent female mountain lion that was found dead appeared healthy. She wasn’t skin and bones.”

The incubation period of the plague is between two and six days after exposure, Tate noted. If hunters develop flu-like symptoms within that period, they should call their doctor.

Mills said, “The plague could be a risk to mountain lion hunters, but I see it as more of a risk to the owners of domestic cats allowed to go outside and hunt rodents.

There have been at least seven unrelated cases of the plague in domestic cats in Wyoming since last year, Mills said. They included four in Laramie County and one each in Albany, Natrona and Teton counties.

“If your cat develops a fever and has swollen lymph nodes, it is definitely time to call a veterinarian,” he said.

A call should first be made to a doctor or veterinarian (instead of walking into an office unannounced) so precautions can be taken to avoid exposing other people or pets to the disease, Mills noted.

Participating in the laboratory workup in this case were Associate Professor Todd Cornish and Laboratory Technician III Amy Boerger-Fields in the Department of Veterinary Sciences.

Information on the plague is available on the WSVL Web site at http://wyovet.uwyo.edu/Disease_Updates.asp. Click on 2005, and scroll to Plague under Topic. The release dates are June 30, June 17 and June 13.

Posted on Thursday, December 14, 2006


http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/

Spotlight: Pneumonic Plague Diagnosis in Grand Canyon National Park

A 37-year-old wildlife biologist working at Grand Canyon National Park died on November 2, 2007, with symptoms suggestive of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome or pneumonic plague. A presumptive diagnosis of plague was made on November 8 based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing conducted at the Arizona Department of Health Services Public Health Laboratory. Consequently, the National Park Service Office of Public Health invited CDC to assist with an assessment of plague risk among National Park Service employees and visitors in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona; to assist with the clinical and epidemiologic investigation conducted by the National Park Service and Arizona Department of Health; and to advise on additional control and prevention measures.

Laboratory testing at CDC-Fort Collins confirmed Y. pestis infection in both mountain lion and patient tissues and isolates from the patient and mountain lion were indistinguishable by PFGE testing. All evidence suggests these infections were naturally acquired. While Grand Canyon National Park is considered to be an endemic area for plague, we found no evidence of a previously large or currently ongoing plague epizootic at the South Rim. Predators, such as mountain lions, can become infected without a plague epizootic because they hunt in the plague endemic environment.

The risk of plague to NPS employees and visitors should be considered minimal and no different from normal for a plague endemic area such as Grand Canyon National Park. Investigators from NPS and ADHS had provided chemoprophylaxis to all patient contacts upon suspicion of the diagnosis and the incubation period for pneumonic plague transmission has passed with no contacts developing plague illness. NPS personnel have been counseled on being aware of signs of plague such as changes in rodent populations (i.e. die-offs) or vector activity. NPS and ADHS personnel are planning to provide in-service education to NPS clinic staff on plague and other vectorborne diseases.

http://www.nps.gov/grca/parknews/upload ... 0death.pdf

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/plague/index.htm