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The LEO Network is a worldwide network of observers and experts that share their observations of environmental change.
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Roundup of COVID-19 responses around the Arctic
With the number of COVID-19 cases outside of China increasing 13-fold, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global pandemic on Thursday, urging governments “to take urgent and aggressive action” to stop its spread.
Eye on the Arctic • Special Reports

Previously Unknown Viruses Discovered in Melting Glacier | The Weather Channel
Scientists sampling ice cores from a glacier in China discovered 28 viruses that had been frozen in time for as long as 15,000 years, and were not previously known to mankind.
Tibet, China
The Weather Channel

Koalas ‘Functionally Extinct’ After Australia Bushfires Destroy 80% of Their Habitat
As Australia experiences record-breaking drought and bushfires, koala populations have dwindled along with their habitat, leaving them “functionally extinct.”
New South Wales and Queensland, Australia
Forbes

Study finds marine mammal viruses are traveling between oceans as sea ice recedes
As sea ice in the Arctic decreases due to climate change, it’s opening the way for more than cruise ship travel. Scientists have found evidence that links the decline of sea ice to the emergence of a virus in Arctic marine mammals that has killed thousands of seals in European waters.
KOTZ Radio 720 AM

A seal-killing virus probably spread from the North Atlantic to North Pacific because of sea-ice retreat
When scientists found that Alaska sea otters were exposed to a sometimes-deadly virus that plagues seals in the North Atlantic, they were puzzled. Phocine distemper virus had not been previously found in Alaska waters.
Alaska, United States
ArcticToday

Deadly virus spreads among marine mammals as Arctic ice melts
When sea otters in Alaska were diagnosed with phocine distemper virus (PDV) in 2004, scientists were confused. The pathogen in the Morbillivirus genus that contains viruses like measles had then only been found in Europe and on the eastern coast of North America.
Alaska, United States
National Geographic

Record-breaking marine heatwave powered by climate change cooks Tasmania's fisheries
Climate change has warmed the waters east of Tasmania at four times the speed of the global average. But the heatwave of the southern summer of 2015/2016 was something exceptional, damaging fisheries and bringing new species to the island. It's a sign of things to come, say the researchers examining these events.
east coast of Tasmania, Australia
ScienceDaily

Alaska to date remains anthrax free
Warming Arctic temperatures can create an environment friendly to bacterial infections like anthrax, an infection spread by contact with bacterial spores, which plant-eating animals may eat or breathe in while grazing.
Alaska, United States
The Cordova Times

Contagious cancers found in bivalves
Contagious cancers occur in clams and other bivalves, and some can even spread between different species of bivalves.
Esquimault, British Columbia, Canada
CBC News

Migrating Birds May Carry Viral Baggage
Right now, a lethal strain of bird flu is wreaking havoc in the Lower 48. It’s clear that migrating flocks have something to do with spreading the illness between farms and across continents -- but exactly what is still fuzzy. A remote spot in Southwest Alaska may hold some clues. Download Audio
Alaska Public Media

Veterinary Division - Reportable Diseases Report
All persons practicing veterinary medicine in North Carolina shall report these listed diseases and conditions to the State Veterinarian's office by telephone within two hours after the disease is reasonably suspected to exist.
North Carolina, United States
North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services news release

Air-dried stockfish of Northeast Arctic cod do not carry viable anisakid nematodes
A total of 80 stockfish fillets of Northeast Arctic cod (Gadus morhua), traditionally open-air-dried in northern Norway, was examined for the presence and viability of larval parasitic nematodes of the family Anisakidae. Anisakids (particularly those belonging to genera Anisakis and Pseudoterranova) are of public health and economic concern globally, since they are responsible for an underestimated fish-borne zoonotic disease called anisakidosis.
Svolvær, Nordland, Norway

Signs of hope 10 years after Ontario's great bat die-off began
"White-nose syndrome" was found in Ontario and Quebec caves, mines and attics in the winter of 2009-2010. A decade after a devastating fungus first appeared in Ontario, wiping out up to 95 per cent of the province’s bats, scientists are beginning to see encouraging signs that bats may be on the rebound.
Renfrew, Ontario, Canada
ottawacitizen

CWD expert: Wolves and hunters can help minimize spread of deadly protein
Idaho’s most controversial predator could play a role in managing the spread of a deadly deer and elk disease, according to a leading research scientist.
Lewiston, Idaho, United States
Spokesman.com

Rabies Outbreak in Western Alaska
Alaska Wildlife News is an online magazine published by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Nome, Alaska, United States
Alaska Fish and Wildlife News

Rabies Outbreak in Western Alaska
Arctic fox rabies is enzootic in populations of arctic and red fox populations along Alaska’s northern and western coasts. This means rabies is always present in these populations at some low level but periodically there can be outbreaks called epizootics (an outbreak in animal disease rather than an epidemic as is it is called when occurring in a human population). However, the winter of 2020-2021 ushered in a widespread outbreak with persistent and large focus in and around Nome.
Nome, Alaska, United States
Alaska Fish and Wildlife News

Wolverines, lynx and moose: Fish and Game screens wildlife for COVID
Biologists are collecting samples from moose and mustelids — that’s wolverines, minks and martens. There are plans to test caribou and Sitka black tail deer, as well as seals and belugas.
KTOO

Health officials to study mosquitoes in the Sea to Sky region after cluster of illness
Late last year, four people in the Sea to Sky corridor developed encephalitis after being infected with California Serogroup viruses (Snowshoe Hare and Jamestown Canyon viruses). Vancouver Coastal Health is launching a mosquito surveillance pilot in the Sea to Sky corridor after four locally acquired encephalitis cases linked to California Serogroup viruses.
Sea to Sky corridor, British Columbia, Canada
Vancouver Sun

Chronic wasting disease ravaging deer population near South Saskatchewan River
CWD was first recorded in Saskatchewan in 1996 on a game farm, but has since moved into the wild deer, elk and moose populations, with wildfire-like infection rates in some areas. Up to 70 per cent of male deer are infected with the fatal disease, says a wildlife health specialist.
South Saskatchewan River
CBC

Alaska wildlife officials on the lookout for new, deadlier bird flu
This strain does not seem to pose a serious risk to people but there's concern for backyard flocks and the wild birds that are a food source for many Alaskans.
Alaska Public Media

Prevalence of serum antibodies to Coxiella burnetii in Alaska Native Persons from the Pribilof Islands
Q fever is a febrile illness caused by infection with the bacterium Coxiella burnetii. It is most often transmitted by inhalation of the bacteria after it is shed by infected livestock. The antibody prevalence in NFS samples from 2009 and 2011 (69%) was significantly higher than in 1994 (49%). The antibody prevalence of SSL samples from 2007 to 2011 was 59%. All NFS vaginal swabs were negative for C. burnetii, despite an 80% antibody prevalence in the matched sera. The significant increase in antibody prevalence in NFS from 1994 to 2011 suggests that the pathogen may be increasingly common or that there is marked temporal variation within the vulnerable NFS population.
Saint Paul, Alaska, United States
PubMed Central (PMC)

The tropical disease that everywhere - Dengue Fever
Dengue is erupting in South America — and has even found its way to the US.
São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

Alaskapox no more: Newly discovered disease and virus renamed ‘borealpox’
The disease and virus likely exist well beyond the state’s borders, making the new name more scientifically accurate, officials say.
Anchorage Daily News

As Russia’s Permafrost Thaws, Ancient Pathogens Risk Re-Awakening
Ancient pathogens that have been preserved in northern Russia’s permafrost for millennia could reawaken as global temperatures rise, scientists warn, potentially putting humanity at risk of never-before-seen diseases.
Khatanga, Krasnoyarskiy, Russia
The Moscow Times

One Health Zoonotic Disease Prioritization for Multisectoral Engagement in Alaska

Fagersta resident on swine fever outbreak: ”Hold on and hope for the best”
The small Swedish town of Fagersta, Västmanland County, has been at the epicentre of the recent outbreak of African swine fever.All activities in an area of forest around 1000 square kilometers in the counties of Västmanland and Dalarna have been off limits since Friday following the discovery of dead wild boar.
Fagersta, Västmanland, Sweden

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