National Wildlife Disease Program (NWDP)

DISEASE SURVEILLANCE

• avian influenza
• plague & tularemia
• feral swine diseases
• tuberculosis
• rabies
  

SPECIAL INTEREST

Preparation for upcoming HPAI sampling season (July 2008)
WDB Stevenson along with State Director Alan May and Albuquerque District Supervisor Ken
Podborny met with New Mexico Game and Fish (NMGF) personnel to discuss the upcoming HPAI
surveillance sampling season. During the meeting sampling locations were discussed as well as the
new sampling quotas.

Bovine tuberculosis (July 2008)
WDB Stevenson had a meeting with AVIC Dr. Sciglibaglio and State Veterinarian Dr. Fly to discuss
a variety of disease issues including bovine tuberculosis (TB). WDB Stevenson discussed the idea of sampling wildlife surrounding dairies where bovine TB has been identified. With the current status of
b ovine TB, the issue of possible spillover into wildlife populations is very timely. WDB Stevenson
described the current literature available on bovine TB infections in wildlife populations worldwide. Dr. Sciglibaglio indicated that it would be good for WDB Stevenson to get a first hand look at the dairies with his VMO Dr. Kuykendall who would be herd testing in the coming weeks. Contact information was exchanged along with plans for a future meeting to formalize a project for mid winter.

Professionals meet to discuss gray fox rabies issues (2008)
During an interagency veterinarians meeting the current status of gray fox rabies in southwestern
New Mexico was discussed. Currently a public education program including various types of
outreach has been underway to reduce exposure risks. A meeting between AZ, NM and TX to
discuss the current rabies issues is slated for late September and will involve multiple agencies
including Wildlife Services from all states.

Contact:
Wildlife Disease Biologist Justin Stevenson (NM)
(505)346-2640
Justin.S.Stevenson@aphis.usda.gov