An immediate way to lower pandemic risk: (not) seizing the low-hanging fruit (bat).

What is the least that humanity can do to mitigate the risks of future pandemics, to prevent worldwide surges in human deaths, illness, and suffering-and more waves of multitrillion US dollar impacts on the global economy? The issues around our consumption and trading of wildlife are diverse and complex, with many rural communities being dependent on wild meat for their nutritional needs. But bats might be one taxonomic group that can be successfully eliminated from the human diet and other uses, with minimal costs or inconvenience to the vast majority of the 8 billion people on Earth. The order Chiroptera merits genuine respect given all that these species contribute to human food supplies through pollination services provided by the frugivores and to disease risk mitigation delivered by insectivorous species.

Exposure of Wild Sumatran Tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) to Canine Distemper Virus.

Canine distemper virus (CDV) is recognized as a conservation threat to Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) in Russia, but the risk to other subspecies remains unknown. We detected CDV neutralizing antibodies in nine of 21 wild-caught Sumatran tigers (42.9%), including one sampled on the day of capture, confirming exposure in the wild.

Distemper, extinction, and vaccination of the Amur tiger.

Canine distemper virus (CDV) has recently emerged as an extinction threat for the endangered Amur tiger (). CDV is vaccine-preventable, and control strategies could require vaccination of domestic dogs and/or wildlife populations. However, vaccination of endangered wildlife remains controversial, which has led to a focus on interventions in domestic dogs, often assumed to be the source of infection.

THE GLOBAL BURDEN OF (HOW WE MANAGE) ANIMAL DISEASE: LEARNING LESSONS FROM SOUTHERN AFRICA.

It is long past the time when we should be recognizing that the potential impacts of animal health interventions focused on livestock may in fact be far from environmentally benign. "First, do no harm" must apply to animal health policy-making as much as these wise words apply to clinical practice. An effort to assess the Global Burden of Animal Diseases, analogous to a long-standing and highly regarded endeavor in the public health realm, has only just been recently announced.

A case for Planetary Health/GeoHealth.

Concern has been spreading across scientific disciplines that the pervasive human transformation of Earth's natural systems is an urgent threat to human health. The simultaneous emergence of "GeoHealth" and "Planetary Health" signals recognition that developing a new relationship between humanity and our natural systems is becoming an urgent global health priority-if we are to prevent a backsliding from the past century's great public health gains. Achieving meaningful progress will require collaboration across a broad swath of scientific disciplines as well as with policy makers, natural resource managers, members of faith communities, and movement builders around the world in order to build a rigorous evidence base of scientific understanding as the foundation for more robust policy and resource management decisions that incorporate both environmental and human health outcomes.

Human health impacts of ecosystem alteration.

Human activity is rapidly transforming most of Earth's natural systems. How this transformation is impacting human health, whose health is at greatest risk, and the magnitude of the associated disease burden are relatively new subjects within the field of environmental health. We discuss what is known about the human health implications of changes in the structure and function of natural systems and propose that these changes are affecting human health in a variety of important ways.

Balancing livestock production and wildlife conservation in and around southern Africa's transfrontier conservation areas.

Biodiversity conservation, of which the transfrontier conservation area movement is an integral part, and more effective livestock production/trade are pivotal to future rural development in southern Africa. For that reason, it is imperative to effectively ameliorate the obstacles that have impeded progress towards the coexistence of these two sectors for more than half a century. Transboundary animal diseases, foot and mouth disease in particular, have been and continue to be the most important of these obstacles.

International trade standards for commodities and products derived from animals: the need for a system that integrates food safety and animal disease risk management.

A case is made for greater emphasis to be placed on value chain management as an alternative to geographically based disease risk mitigation for trade in commodities and products derived from animals. The geographic approach is dependent upon achievement of freedom in countries or zones from infectious agents that cause so-called transboundary animal diseases, while value chain-based risk management depends upon mitigation of animal disease hazards potentially associated with specific commodities or products irrespective of the locality of production. This commodity-specific approach is founded on the same principles upon which international food safety standards are based, viz.

Comparisons among selected neonatal biomedical parameters of four species of semi-free ranging Hippotragini: Addax (Addax nasomaculatus), scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah), Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx), and sable antelope (Hippotragus niger).

Basic biomedical data from 164 neonates of four species of the tribe Hippotragini, addax (Addax nasomaculatus), scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah), Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx), and sable antelope (Hippotragus niger), were compared at one zoological institution over a 9-year period. Measured biomedical parameters included body weight, temperature, pulse and respiratory rates, packed cell volume (PCV), total plasma protein, glucose, IgG assessment via zinc sulfate turbidity, and white blood cell count with differential. All species were maintained in a semi-free ranging setting with the same diet, available shelter, and opportunity for social interaction.

Psychological factors predicting nausea and vomiting in breast cancer patients on chemotherapy.

A series of 100 breast cancer patients were included in a study to test the hypothesis that incidence of anticipatory nausea and vomiting during chemotherapy and towards the end of a patient's course of treatment is influenced by patient expectation, anxiety level and coping response. The role of psychological factors in postinfusional nausea and vomiting was also examined. Incidence of postinfusional and anticipatory nausea was high overall, with vomiting less frequently reported; 43% of patients reported nausea or vomiting before treatment at some stage over their chemotherapy cycles and 77% reported post-treatment symptoms.

A practical anesthesia monitoring protocol for free-ranging adult African elephants (Loxodonta africana).

Twenty free-ranging adult African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in northern Botswana were immobilized with a mean (+/- SD) of 9.5 +/- 0.5 mg etorphine hydrochloride and 2,000 IU hyaluronidase by intramuscular (IM) dart.

Acute primary toxoplasmic hepatitis in an adult cat shedding Toxoplasma gondii oocysts.

A 3-year-old 4-kg neutered male domestic shorthair cat died within 5 days after onset of fever and respiratory distress. At necropsy, all tissues were icteric, and the liver had a diffuse reticular pattern. Histologically, hepatitis and encephalitis were associated with Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites.

An ectopic wing in a wild black vulture (Coragyps atratus).

An approximately 5-month-old black vulture (Coragyps atratus) was presented with the chief complaint of cervicomelia. A full-sized ectopic wing, with its own pectoral girdle, was found attached to the dorsal surface of the last few cervical vertebrae. There was deformation (right dorsolateral narrowing) of the spinal canal at the point of attachment with a corresponding compression of the spinal cord.

Congenital extra-hepatic biliary cyst in a Congo African Grey Parrot (Psittacus erithacus erithacus).

An 8-week-old Congo African Grey Parrot (Psittacus erithacus erithacus) was presented with a history of abdominal enlargement since hatch. Trans-illumination of the abdomen suggested that the enlargement was due to marked hepatomegaly. This was supported by radiographic and ultrasonic examination.

Characterization of alternative pathway inhibition by a serum derived, low molecular weight complement inhibitor.

Normal human serum contains an inhibitor of complement which is distinguished by its small size of 500 daltons, the low molecular weight inhibitor (LMWI). When LMWI was present during incubation of zymosan or cobra venom factor with serum, formation of complement reactive complexes was blocked as measured by failure of these mixtures to lyse susceptible erythrocytes from patients with paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH). Addition of LMWI to pre-formed complexes had no effect on their subsequent haemolytic activity.