BOTULISM, AVIAN - NEW ZEALAND: DUCK
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Date: 13 Jan 2011
Source: Stuff.co.nz [edited]
<http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/4534029/Outbreak-of-paralysing-disease-hits-ducks>
Botulism outbreak killing ducks
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Dozens of dead ducks have been found in Waitakere's waterways in the past 2 weeks because of an outbreak of the paralyzing botulism toxin. [A local resident] whose property backs on to a stream running from the Glendale pond has found 26 dead ducks near his home in the past 6 days. "It's awful to see these poor birds suffer like this. I put a piece of wet bread not even 10cm away from the mouth of one but she couldn't even move to eat it."
Botulism causes ducks to lose control of their head and necks before the paralysis spreads to the rest of their bodies. [This loss of control is some times called, "limberneck disease." - Mod.TG]
Auckland Council stormwater manager Grant Ockleston says warm water is a breeding ground for bacteria. "It's been hot in Auckland in the past few weeks which has heated up water temperatures and reduced water flow, a perfect breeding ground for the botulism-causing bacteria."
The council put barley straw into the water to neutralise the botulism bacteria in September [2010].
Lyn Macdonald runs the Bird Rescue Trust in Green Bay and says she has received ducks with botulism signs from streams and ponds in Glen Eden and Henderson's Riverpark. She's also cared for more than 30 sick birds found at Western Springs. "People need to stop polluting the waterways by throwing away their grass clippings, dead branches and rubbish because it blocks the flow of the water which creates these conditions," she says.
Auckland Regional Public Health Service medical officer of health Simon Baker says avian botulism is a very low risk to humans but people should clean their hands well after being in contact with sick and dead birds.
Anyone who finds dead ducks should contact the Auckland Council to have them removed. Sick ducks can be taken to the Bird Rescue Trust.
[byline: Vanita Prasad]
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[How fascinating! Part of this article says they but barley straw into the water way to neutralize the toxin. The second part of the article says people should not put their grass clippings and the like into the waterway.
I have never come across any mention of barley straw neutralizing the preformed toxin. So it might appear that the council and bird rescuers may not be on the quite the same page.
The sporulating anaerobic Gram positive bacillus _Clostridium botulinum_ elaborates 7 types of antigenically distinct neurotoxins, 4 of which affect
humans: type A, B, E, or rarely type F toxin. Types A and B toxins are highly poisonous proteins resistant to digestion by GI (gastrointestinal) enzymes. About half of the foodborne outbreaks in the United States are caused by type A toxin, followed by types B and E.
Type C botulism occurs principally in waterfowl and other birds living in an aquatic environment and causes tremendous losses, most notably in waterfowl in the western US. In addition to North America, it has been reported in birds in Europe, South Africa, Uruguay, and Australia. In the Great Lakes region, it was 1st identified in 1936 in ducks on Green Bay of Lake Michigan and in 1941 in Monroe County marshes along Lake Erie. Type C is most often associated with limberneck paralysis in birds.
Type E botulism is connected with consumption of fish and occurs mainly in gulls and loons, and to a lesser extent in mergansers, mute swans, grebes, and shorebirds. It now appears any birds or mammals susceptible to botulinum toxin run a risk of becoming poisoned if they scavenge dead fish.
Evidence for this includes the identification of type E toxin in a bald eagle, wood ducks, and muskrats with fish remaining in their digestive tracts.
Typically a bird dies of some cause, and the carcass is an incubator for the anaerobes. The maggots move into the decomposing carcass, accumulating the toxin. Other birds come to eat the maggots on the carcass and infect themselves, dying from the very disease they consumed, and so the circle gets larger and requires that carcasses to be picked up, or the cycle continues. - Mod.TG
The interactive HealthMap/ProMED map for Auckland, New Zealand, is available at <http://healthmap.org/r/0m1E> - CopyEd.EJP]
[see also:
2010
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Botulism, avian - USA (05): (FL) susp. 20100817.2848 Botulism, avian - Spain: (CM), water birds, susp., RFI 20100803.2615
2009
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Botulism, avian - Australia (02): (NSW) 20090121.0254 Botulism, avian - Australia 20090117.0197
2004
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Botulism, avian - New Zealand 20040119.0218]
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