Emerging infectious diseases in free-ranging wildlife-Australian zoo based wildlife hospitals contribute to national surveillance

Keren Cox-Witton; Andrea Reiss; Rupert Woods; Victoria Grillo; Rupert T Baker; David J Blyde; Wayne Boardman; Stephen Cutter; Claude Lacasse; Helen McCracken; Michael Pyne; Ian Smith; Simone Vitali; Larry Vogelnest; Dion Wedd; Martin Phillips; Chris Bunn; Lyndel Post

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0095127

Emerging infectious diseases in free-ranging wildlife-Australian zoo based wildlife hospitals contribute to national surveillance

PLoS One. 2014 May 1;9(5):e95127. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0095127. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Keren Cox-Witton¹, Andrea Reiss², Rupert Woods¹, Victoria Grillo¹, Rupert T Baker³, David J Blyde⁴, Wayne Boardman⁵, Stephen Cutter⁶, Claude Lacasse⁷, Helen McCracken⁸, Michael Pyne⁹, Ian Smith⁵, Simone Vitali¹⁰, Larry Vogelnest¹¹, Dion Wedd⁶, Martin Phillips², Chris Bunn¹², Lyndel Post¹²

Affiliations

¹ Australian Wildlife Health Network, Mosman, New South Wales, Australia.
² Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia, Mosman, New South Wales, Australia.
³ Healesville Sanctuary, Zoos Victoria, Healesville, Victoria, Australia.
⁴ Sea World, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
⁵ Adelaide Zoo, Zoos South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
⁶ Territory Wildlife Park, Berry Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
⁷ Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital, Beerwah, Queensland, Australia.
⁸ Melbourne Zoo, Zoos Victoria, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
⁹ Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, Currumbin, Queensland, Australia.
¹⁰ Perth Zoo, South Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
¹¹ Taronga Zoo, Taronga Conservation Society Australia, Mosman, New South Wales, Australia.
¹² Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

Abstract

Emerging infectious diseases are increasingly originating from wildlife. Many of these diseases have significant impacts on human health, domestic animal health, and biodiversity. Surveillance is the key to early detection of emerging diseases. A zoo based wildlife disease surveillance program developed in Australia incorporates disease information from free-ranging wildlife into the existing national wildlife health information system. This program uses a collaborative approach and provides a strong model for a disease surveillance program for free-ranging wildlife that enhances the national capacity for early detection of emerging diseases.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Animals, Domestic
Animals, Wild
Australia / epidemiology
Communicable Diseases / veterinary*
Communicable Diseases, Emerging / epidemiology*
Geography
Hospitals, Animal
Public Health Surveillance
Zoonoses / epidemiology*

Grants and funding

The zoo based wildlife disease surveillance program described in this paper was funded by the Australian Government Department of Agriculture and the Australian Centre of Excellence for Risk Analysis. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.