UNDIAGNOSED DEATHS, SEA BIRDS - USA (FLORIDA)
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A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases <http://www.isid.org>
Date: 23 Sep 2010
Source: Fox.com [edited]
<http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/local/polk/what-is-making-swans-sick-09232010>
Dr. Geoffrey Gardner, a Lakeland swan expert, is facing the challenge of a lifetime. Something is killing the seabirds and swans on Long Boat Key, and he has to find out what it is.
"Our concern is that it may be coming from toxins in the waters, something coming from the dispersants that might have been used for the Gulf oil spill," Gardner told FOX 13 on Thursday [23 Sep 2010].
The birds started getting sick and dying 2 months after the spill.
Gardner is wondering if seabirds may have come in contact with a chemical in the Gulf, then migrated here.
He has an alternative hypothesis as well, which is a bit more
ominous: could toxins from the spill be showing up in our area?
Either way, wildlife rehabbers who discovered the problem are concerned because they have been seeing an alarming number of gulls and terns die lately.
"When you have 65 birds die in less than 6 weeks, you have a problem," said Lee Fox, the founder of Save our Seabirds in Sarasota.
Gardner, a world renowned expert on swans, just got 3 of the sick birds and examined them. He sent the body of a 4th one to a lab in Orlando for testing.
[Byline: Ken Suarez]
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Communicated by:
ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
[Birds can be sensitive to things they inhale. The chemical dispersants or a breakdown product may be a contributing factor. It may be something completely unrelated to the Gulf oil spill and has not yet been identified. Let us hope the animal sent to the laboratory for testing reveals a cause which can be treated. - Mod.TG]
[For the interactive HealthMap/ProMED map of Florida, see <http://healthmap.org/r/00uk>.
More information on the etiology of this die-off from knowledgeable persons in the region would be greatly appreciated. - Mod.MPP]
[see also:
2005
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Undiagnosed deaths, sea birds - USA (VA)(02) 20050713.1990
Undiagnosed deaths, sea birds - USA (VA): RFI 20050709.1956
1997
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Mass mortality in penguins and other sea-birds:RFI 19970421.0835
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