Category: Research Results

This week the type 2 form of the lethal RHD virus  was confirmed in wild rabbits in the Netherlands. The virus, first encountered in France in 2010, was found in three wild rabbits from the Dutch provinces of Utrecht, Gelderland and South Holland that were submitted to the DWHC for post-mortem exam. Another

Despite their legendary reproductive capabilities, rabbit populations can nonetheless be decimated by the spread of rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (also known as viral hemorrhagic disease, VHD). RHD (type 1) was first reported in the Netherlands in the 1990s when it caused a massive dent in some wild rabbit

In November 2015 a fox was submitted to the DWHC for post-mortem exam. The fox came from an area in which numerous foxes with mange-like signs had been seen  including five others in 2015 alone. A case of scabies (mange caused by the Sarcoptes mite) had been confirmed in a fox from this area in 2014.

Researchers at the Dutch Wildlife Health Centre (DWHC) working together with members of the Zoogdiervereniging (Dutch organisation for the research and conservation of native mammals) and the RIVM (National Institute for Public Health and the Environment), have confirmed that more than half of the squirrels that

In the summer of 2015, avian malaria was found in a green finch from Son en Breugel in the South of the Netherlands and a pied avocet from Medemblik in North Holland. In 2011 the parasite was found in several

In June an inhabitant of the Dutch Wadden Sea Island of Schiermonnikoog spotted a greylag goose that was behaving oddly and distanced from the other birds. The goose was culled and due to the poor nutritional status of the animal and the unusual appearance of lumps on its legs the carcase was submitted to the DWHC

Tularemia in hares Tularemia has been identified in a hare from the Dutch province of Gelderland that was submitted to the Dutch Wildlife Health Centre (DWHC) in June 2015 for post-mortem exam. Since 2011, all dead hares received by the DWHC are routinely tested by the Central Veterinary Institute for the bacteria

In the UK, thousands of cattle and badgers are infected with Mycobacterium bovis, a member of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and the cause of  bovine tuberculosis (TB) in cattle. The prevention of TB in cattle is of great economic and public health importance and the role of badgers in disease persistence

In 2014 and the first quarter of 2015, a total of 72 hares were submitted to the Dutch Wildlife Health Centre (DWHC) for post-mortem investigation. Causes of death identified in these animals included trauma and a range of infectious diseases, three of which can affect humans (zoonoses); tularemia, toxoplasmosis

In early 2015 an adult male stone marten was submitted to the DWHC for post-mortem exam. The animal was in good nutritional condition and there was evidence of fatal trauma to the head consistent with roadkill. In addition, there was inflammation of the heart due to infection with Toxoplasma gondii; this may have