![]() The dead birds, their eyeballs and their flesh have been put through a battery of molecular tests for fungi, parasites and bacteria. The full results from the diagnostics lab may not come for several more weeks, according to Dr. “In general, more of us are leaning toward an emerging bacterial infection,” she added, pointing to the eye lesions that seem similar to the bacterium-caused conjunctivitis. Casey said, adding that she does not want to rule out anything but doubts the cicada hypothesis. But the sick birds did not respond to the clinic’s usual treatments for house finch eye disease which, she added, does not cause neurological symptoms. Chooljian, the eye symptoms initially resembled those associated with the disease mycoplasma conjunctivitis, also called house finch eye disease. Though many cicadas’ long-awaited bacchanalia has gone off without a hitch, others have fallen prey to a zombifying white fungus, which some have speculated could be the cause of the disease. On the internet, the favorite culprit is Brood X, the periodical cicadas that spent the last 17 years underground only to emerge this year in teeming, singing masses, around the time the bird disease emerged. Out of concern that the disease could be contagious to other birds, both City Wildlife and the Animal Welfare League of Arlington now recommend putting the birds down on intake.Īlthough the cause of the disease officially remains a mystery, people have proffered a number of theories. “I’ve never lost so many birds before,” said Jennifer Toussaint, the chief animal control officer at the league. Nearby, the Animal Welfare League of Arlington in Virginia was also overrun with sick birds that did not respond to medication. “Not being able to do anything but relieve the suffering of these birds has been a very emotionally taxing experience,” Dr. ![]() At City Wildlife, all the birds arrived with such severe symptoms that they died within days or their disease progressed to the point that they had to be euthanized. Cheryl Chooljian, the clinic’s director.Ī vast majority of diseased birds taken into clinics and rehabilitation centers have died. Now, the vets see only two to four cases a week, said Dr. City Wildlife in Washington, D.C., received one case in April 91 in May and 62 in the first week of June. In July, staff at wildlife agencies said, reports seem to be tapering - although it’s unclear whether that means that the virus is receding or that people are no longer reporting cases. Several diagnostics laboratories are continuing to test samples for potential bacterial diseases, viruses, parasites and toxins, Dr. Christine Casey, a state wildlife veterinarian for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. Others on the list are salmonella, chlamydia and a host of flaviviruses, herpesviruses and Trichomonas parasites, according to Dr. ![]() Those that have been ruled out include maladies like avian influenza and West Nile, which have spread among bird species and can sometimes jump to humans. But on Friday, the United States Geological Survey, which has coordinated an investigation of the disease among the states, concluded in a statement circulated to wildlife agencies that it could rule out a number of pathogens that had not been detected in the afflicted birds. The cause of these symptoms remains mysterious. A Beloved Bird Call: The corncrake’s loud cry was once a common sound of summer in Ireland, but these days it can seldom be heard.Hammering Away: A study shows that woodpeckers do not absorb shocks during pecking and they likely aren’t being concussed either.Instead, the most distinctive birds are likely to vanish first. An Uneven Crisis: The risk of extinction, a study suggests, is not randomly or equally spread across the avian family.And they do it without stopping to eat, drink or rest. ![]() An Epic Flight: In search of an endless summer, bar-tailed godwits fly 7,000 miles each year - from Alaska to New Zealand. ![]()
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