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Wildlife Mortality Information - Avian Cholera |
What this map layer shows:
The number of bird deaths due to cholera, when each outbreak occurred,
and the top five species affected, by county.
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Background Information |
Sample Map
Avian cholera, also known as fowl cholera, is one of the most common
diseases among wild North American waterfowl. It is the result of infection
with the bacterium Pasteurella multocida. This bacterium kills
swiftly, sometimes in as few as 6 to 12 hours after infection. Live bacteria
released into the environment by dead and dying birds can subsequently
infect healthy birds. As a result, avian cholera can spread quickly through
a wetland and kill hundreds to thousands of birds in a single outbreak.
Avian cholera often affects the same wetlands and the same bird populations
year after year. This map layer portrays the incidence of avian cholera
in the United States. It was produced by the U.S.
Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC), which
was established to address the health and disease issues of free-ranging
wildlife. The center collects information on wildlife mortality events
such as those caused by avian cholera, assesses the impact of disease
on wildlife, identifies the role of various pathogens in contributing
to wildlife losses, and works to develop effective disease prevention
and control strategies. The avian cholera information was extracted from
NWHC's EPIZOO database,
which is a long-term record of more than 25 years of information on epizootics
(epidemics) in wildlife. EPIZOO tracks die-offs throughout the United
States and its territories, primarily in migratory birds and endangered
species.
The Wildlife Mortality Information – Avian Cholera database
shows county-level information on avian cholera events in the United
States, including the dates of each event, the five top species involved,
and the number of deaths. Also available in the National Atlas are
databases describing mortality events due to avian
botulism, avian lead poisoning, and organophosphate/carbamate
poisoning, as well as a database with county-level counts of
wildlife mortality events. More detailed information on avian cholera
and other disease epidemics in wildlife is available from the NWHC Disease
Information page, and from the Field
Manual of Wildlife Diseases.
Related Links:
If you download the data for Wildlife Mortality Information – Avian
Cholera, you may also want to download the Wildlife Mortality Information
– Frequency and the 2001 County Boundaries data. The Wildlife
Mortality frequency information and the County Boundaries map layers can
be used together to create a map of wildlife mortality that is similar
to the map in the Map Maker. The Avian Cholera map layer provides additional
information about specific events.
Download Wildlife Mortality
Information – Frequency Data
Download 2001 County Boundaries
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