National Wildlife Disease Program (NWDP)

DISEASE SURVEILLANCE

• avian influenza
• West Nile virus
• feral swine diseases
  

SPECIAL INTEREST

HPAI surveillance in NY and Greenland (July 2008)
WDB Gansowski worked with Tara Schneider from the town of Hempstead to gain access to
several beaches to live-capture shorebirds. Trapping locations in the town of Hempstead played a
vital role in the HPAI surveillance sampling in 2007.
In July, WDB Gansowski started environmental sampling at three locations in New York State. A
total of 30 samples were collected and sent to NWRC to be screened for HPAI. WDB Gansowski
also worked with district supervisors from Brooklyn and Potsdam to plan environmental sampling
for the upcoming months.
WDB Gansowski coordinated with Cornell Diagnostic Lab for the arrival and testing of 307 HPAI
surveillance samples from Greenland.

WDB assists Dead Bird Hotline for West Nile virus and avian influenza surveillance, research and prevention in collaboration with NYSDOH & NYDEP (July 2008)
WDB Gansowski is overseeing the Dead Bird Hotline in its 8th year of operation. The Dead Bird
Hotline continues to assist with Avian Influenza surveillance in an effort to look for mass mortality
events in birds. The goal of this project is to assist the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) and New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEP) by answering calls from the public and logging information into the Health Information Network. The data collected by WS is an essential component of a statewide multi-agency West Nile Virus (WNV) management plan to assist the NYSDOH in monitoring the dead crow density that appears to be a critical part of forecasting the risk to human health from WNV. The dead bird hotline is also an essential component in New York State’s avian influenza surveillance program. Any mass mortality events reported to the hotline will be forwarded to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) to be investigated by the state wildlife pathologist.

Reovirus determined to be cause of death in crows in New York (2008)
WDB Gansowski coordinated a response to a concerned citizen’s calls about a large number of dead crows in Albany and Renssalear Counties, NY. Crows were collected from various locations in the counties and delivered to the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation pathology unit for testing where all of the crows tested positive for reovirus.

Contact:
Wildlife Disease Biologist Justin Gansowski (NY)
(518)477-4837
Justin.Gansowski@aphis.usda.gov