Wildlife Disease Outbreak Investigations

The USGS Ecosystems Mission Area’s Biological Threats and Invasive Species Research Program supports cause-of-death investigations of aquatic and terrestrial wildlife disease outbreaks involving Federal trust species, which includes “migratory birds, threatened species, endangered species, interjurisdictional fish, marine mammals, and other species of concern” (16 U.S.C. 3772(1)), and those outbreaks occurring on Department of the Interior (DOI) managed lands. These diagnostic investigations often lead to research studies to further understand the epidemiology of disease outbreaks and provide tools for disease prevention, detection, and management. Wildlife disease outbreak investigations conducted by USGS scientists support other DOI bureaus (for example, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS] and National Park Service), as well as State and Tribal natural resource and conservation agencies.

The USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC), the only Federal high-containment facility dedicated to wildlife disease surveillance and research, is registered with the U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) Federal Select Agent Program and serves as an affiliate member within USDA’s National Animal Health Laboratory Network. For more than 40 years, NWHC diagnostic laboratories have worked collaboratively with Federal, State, and Tribal agencies to investigate wildlife morbidity and mortality events across the Nation. Together, the NWHC and Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative serve as the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)’s Collaborating Centre for Research, Diagnosis and Surveillance of Wildlife Pathogens. NWHC is also a United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization Reference Centre for Wildlife Health and Wildlife Disease Diagnostics.

Supporting National Response to Disease Outbreaks

As outlined in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Response Framework Emergency Support Function #11 (ESF-11), the USGS is the lead Federal agency tasked with responding to disease events involving free-ranging fish and wildlife—including zoonotic disease outbreaks—during emergencies (https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-07/fema_ESF_11_Ag-Natural-Resources.pdf). Through ESF-11, the USGS collaborates with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, other DOI bureaus, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for an integrated response to diseases shared between wildlife, domesticated animals, or people. Following a presidential national emergency declaration (White House, 2020), the USGS will assist by providing the following: wildlife emergency response teams; geospatial assessment and mapping tools; assistance in the identification of new emerging and resurging zoonotic diseases; diagnostic laboratory support (up to and including biological safety level 3 biocontainment precautions for working with microbes that can cause serious or fatal disease after inhalation); assistance with the prevention, control, and eradication of any disease involving wildlife; and carcass disposal facilities, as appropriate. USGS has supported the national response to highly pathogenic avian influenza and SARS-CoV-2.

Tracking Specific Wildlife Diseases

The USGS conducts and supports field and laboratory surveillance for endemic, emerging, and resurging diseases of aquatic and terrestrial wildlife. The USGS maintains the Wildlife Health Information Sharing Partnership—event reporting system (WHISPers; https://whispers.usgs.gov/home), which raises awareness of wildlife disease events and provides a collaboration platform for Federal, State, and Tribal wildlife health professionals. USGS wildlife disease investigation capabilities have also been used to support surveillance and research on diseases that affect the agricultural economy (National Security Memorandum-16, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/11/10/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-releases-national-security-memorandum-t o-strengthen-the-security-and-resilience-of-u-s-food-and-agriculture/), such as livestock pathogens shared with wildlife (Miller and others, 2013). The USGS collaborates directly with the Department of Homeland Security’s National Biosurveillance Integration Center to assure wildlife disease information is available to the national biosurveillance infrastructure.

The USGS has collaborated with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on surveillance and research of diseases shared between wildlife and domesticated animals (avian influenza, infectious salmon anemia, chronic wasting disease, and rabbit hemorrhagic disease). The USGS and USDA detected the first cases of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in wild birds ahead of the 2015 U.S. poultry outbreaks (Ip and others, 2015). The USGS continues to collaborate with USDA and other organizations through the Interagency Steering Committee for Avian Influenza Surveillance in Wild Migratory Birds. Together, a proactive 2021 webinar series was conducted because of concern that the global HPAI outbreak might impact North America (Hopkins and others, 2022). USGS avian ecology research led to the first 2022 live wild bird HPAI detection (Prosser and others, 2022). USGS scientists and their collaborators determined that avian influenza viruses can persist in Alaska and Minnesota wetlands for up to 7 months (Ramey and others, 2020). USGS is developing risk models to better understand the interface between wild birds and domestic poultry (https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/ai).

Wildlife Disease Research Capabilities

The USGS invests approximately $15 million annually on aquatic and terrestrial wildlife disease research. This investment primarily supports disease operations at the USGS NWHC, as well as surveillance and research conducted by disease ecologists and veterinarians embedded at other USGS Science Centers and USGS Cooperative Research Units (USGS scientists based at land-grant universities) across the Nation. In addition to field and laboratory research, USGS mathematical modeling, biostatistics, decision science, human dimensions, and economic research provide scientific information to natural resource managers.