Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
Avian Influenza Not Suspected in Waterfowl Deaths on Upper Mississippi River
Posted: 04/29/2015
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is awaiting test results to determine the cause of death for American coot and lesser scaup collected last week from Pools 9 and 10 of the Mississippi River. The waterfowl are being tested at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis.
Officials do not suspect avian influenza.
Since last week, waterfowl by the hundreds have been found dead in the Mississippi River pools 7, 8, 9, and 10. The vast majority killed were American coot and lesser scaup, but some bluewing teal and canvasbacks were also found.
This is the sixth time since 2002 that waterfowl die offs have been documented on the Upper Mississippi River and each time prior, trematodes were responsible.
Trematodes are a parasitic flatworm that spends part of its life stage inside snails. Waterfowl die from trematoedes each year but in years when snail populations are high, mortality rates of snail eaters ? American coots and lesser scaup at this location ? increases as well.
Waterfowl have succumbed to trematodes in Pools 7, 8 or 9 on the Mississippi River in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2012, and periodically in other lakes and streams around the Midwest. The invasive faucet snail is an intermediate host for three types of trematodes and is likely the source of the current outbreak.
http://www.iowadnr.gov/home/ctl/detail/mid/2822/itemid/2653
Posted: 04/29/2015
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is awaiting test results to determine the cause of death for American coot and lesser scaup collected last week from Pools 9 and 10 of the Mississippi River. The waterfowl are being tested at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis.
Officials do not suspect avian influenza.
Since last week, waterfowl by the hundreds have been found dead in the Mississippi River pools 7, 8, 9, and 10. The vast majority killed were American coot and lesser scaup, but some bluewing teal and canvasbacks were also found.
This is the sixth time since 2002 that waterfowl die offs have been documented on the Upper Mississippi River and each time prior, trematodes were responsible.
Trematodes are a parasitic flatworm that spends part of its life stage inside snails. Waterfowl die from trematoedes each year but in years when snail populations are high, mortality rates of snail eaters ? American coots and lesser scaup at this location ? increases as well.
Waterfowl have succumbed to trematodes in Pools 7, 8 or 9 on the Mississippi River in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2012, and periodically in other lakes and streams around the Midwest. The invasive faucet snail is an intermediate host for three types of trematodes and is likely the source of the current outbreak.
http://www.iowadnr.gov/home/ctl/detail/mid/2822/itemid/2653