Gastrointestinal Diseases from Animals

The finding upends conventional wisdom regarding coughing, long thought to be the main route of transmission. Upending centuries of medical dogma, a team of South African researchers has found that breathing may be a bigger contributor to the spread of tuberculosis than coughing, the signature symptom. As much as 90 percent of TB bacteria released from an infected person may be carried in tiny droplets, called aerosols, that are expelled when a person exhales deeply, the researchers estimated. The findings were presented on Tuesday at a scientific conference held online. The report echoes an important finding of the Covid pandemic: The coronavirus, too, spreads in aerosols carried aloft, particularly in indoor spaces — a route of transmission that was widely underappreciated as the pandemic began to unfold. TB is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which usually attacks the lungs. It is the world's deadliest infectious disease after Covid-19, claiming more than...

16 wild resolutions to help you connect with the natural world, become a better naturalist and help wildlife survive and thrive. This competition is now closed By BBC Wildlife Magazine Published: December 31, 2021 at 8:12 am While others are giving up things, why not take a totally different approach? Here are 16 positive New...

The Pennsylvania Game Commission trapped a 260-pound black bear Wednesday morning next to a Lower Hill District dumpster near Downtown Pittsburgh. A sighting of the bear was first reported Dec. 6 in the 5700 block of Penn Avenue, but it disappeared, said Douglas Bergman, a game commission warden covering Allegheny County. Then, within the past week, the bruin was reported raiding dumpsters at the Energy Innovation Center along the Lower Hill's Bedford Avenue and the nearby Boy Scouts building, he said. The managers of the innovation center discovered that their dumpster was broken into and used video surveillance to discover that a bear was eating the trash, Bergman said. The Pennsylvania Game Commission trapped a 200-pound bear next to a dumpster in the Energy Innovation Center's parking lot along Bedford Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh Wednesday morning. pic.twitter.com/TRLSpiZyDR — Mary Ann Thomas (@MaThomas_Trib) December 22, 2021 Footage captured the bear...

Share on Pinterest A motorcyclist drives past a street sign for the Institute of Lassa Fever Research and Control in Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital in Irrua, Edo State, midwest Nigeria, on March 6, 2018. PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP via Getty Images A recent article in the Journal of Medical Virology discusses the dual impact of Lassa fever and COVID-19 in Africa. The authors say that the emergence of COVID-19 has directed resources away from other infectious diseases, including Lassa fever. To contain the disease, they recommend a mix of public hygiene information, enhanced research, and the development of treatments and vaccines. Lassa fever is an infectious disease transmitted from rodents to humans. Approximately 2 million people get Lassa fever each year, resulting in 5,000–10,000 deaths. The disease is endemic in West African countries, such as Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. One of the major challenges when diagnosing the disease is the similarity of its symptoms ,...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Meat-goat producers looking for information on how to make their livestock enterprise more profitable can take advantage of a home-study course offered by Penn State Extension this winter. The course, which begins Feb. 2, 2022, will cover profit-enhancing production principles for raising meat goats. Lessons are available through email and the internet or through conventional mail delivery. The course contains six weekly lessons. Lesson topics include production basics, nutrition, health, reproduction, marketing, and financial issues. Each lesson has information about the topic and a worksheet for producers to complete and mail or email back to Penn State Extension for comments. Producers also can submit questions they would like to have answered. An additional feature started last year is the option to join three Zoom meetings to review worksheet questions and answers. Zoom meetings can be accessed by computer or by phone. "This course...

"Shearing the Rams," oil painting by Tom Roberts (1890). Courtesy of National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. by IKER SAITUA | December 20, 2021 The United States doesn't eat much sheep. In 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, Americans consumed less than one pound of lamb or mutton (the meat from mature ram or ewe) per capita. Americans are among the world's top consumers of beef, pork, and poultry—and near the bottom when it comes to sheep. Why do Americans prefer other meats to lamb? And why, in a famously dynamic country, has this preference lasted for hundreds of years? Lamb's unpopularity has deep roots in the history of sheep, and the outsized role that small animal...

Despite a global pandemic that forced Zoo Boise to temporarily close its doors, cancel special events and fundraisers, and restricted zoo rentals and animal encounters with the health and safety of the community in mind, the zoo's conservation mission remains strong. Zoo Boise not only met its conservation funding goals in the last year but surpassed them. The zoo is more than a place where people can connect with exotic animals, it's a force for change and at the heart of everything that Zoo Boise does is its mission to help protect wild animals and wild places in Idaho and all over the world. Thanks to amazing donors and partners, like Zoo Boise's Season Sponsor U.S. Bank, the zoo was able to modify its business model during the pandemic while continuing to support the people and organizations on the front lines protecting wildlife. Throughout 2021, Zoo Boise granted out $296,500. That money went to help wildlife all over the world, including right in our own backyard. Th...

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Indonesia has announced sightings of two Javan rhino calves this year in Ujung Kulon National Park, the last place on Earth where the critically endangered species is found. The new additions bring the estimated population of the species to 73; conservationists have recorded at least one new calf a year joining the population since 2012. Despite the stable population growth, the rhinos remain under the looming threat of disease, natural disaster, and a resurgence in encroachment. JAKARTA — Conservation officials in Indonesia have reported a sighting of two new Javan rhinoceros calves, boosting hopes for stable population growth of the nearly extinct species. The calves, a female and a male, were spotted on different occasions in March by camera traps in Ujung Kulon National Park on the western tip of Indonesia's Java Island, the Javan rhino's ( Rhinoceros sondaicus ) last habitat on Earth. The addition of the two calves brings the species' total population to 73 indivi...

Although coyotes are considered a predator, they tend to actively avoid humans and rarely attack. (Photo by Tim Daniel, ODNR Division of Wildlife) BAY VILLAGE, Ohio – Bay Village residents have raised concerns on social media about recent sightings of coyotes in their neighborhoods, but wildlife experts say they have little to worry about. Humans are more likely to spot coyotes in the wintertime, but the canines are around all year throughout Ohio – and, in general, are actively trying to avoid people. Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.

This started as a story about what happens after a pandemic ends. I pitched my editor on the idea in early May. Every adult in America could get a vaccine. COVID numbers started to fall. If the Roaring '20s came after the Spanish flu a century ago, did that mean we were on track for another Roaring '20s now? Would "Hot Vax Summer" give way to Decadent Gatsby Party Autumn? I started to dig in. A number of compelling parallels emerged: America 100 years ago had staggering income inequality. A booming stock market. Racial uprisings. Anti-immigrant sentiment. A one-term president plagued by scandals after he left office. Plenty of material for a story. Then the pandemic didn't end. Vaccinations stalled. The Delta variant fueled new waves of infections, hospitalizations and deaths. By September, some states had more hospitalized COVID patients than they did during the winter surge. The economic outlook for this decade has gone from "champagne-soaked...