Public health warning as cat parasite spreads to Arctic beluga whales
Source: Guardian
A dangerous parasite spread by domestic cats has been found in beluga whales in the Arctic.
The discovery of Toxoplasma gondii in the marine mammals has led researchers to issue a public health warning to Inuit populations who eat beluga whalemeat in dried strips and stews.
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Prof Michael Grigg at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver said tests on hundreds of beluga whales in the Beaufort Sea, on the edge of the Arctic, revealed that 14% of the creatures harboured the infection. The tests are the first to show the infection has reached the region.
"This is now emerging in the Arctic and there's not much we can do about that. This is the new normal," said Grigg. The infected whales did not appear ill, but Grigg said that his team might not be finding animals made sick by the infection.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/feb/14/cat-parasite-beluga-whales-arctic-toxoplasma
SHRED
(28,136 posts)...lizards, and other beneficial animals and now this.
Cats are destructive.
Sorry cat lovers.
hamsterjill
(15,224 posts)Some people just hate cats.
I don't hate them. I dislike that their owners let them run free to crap in my yard and kill birds.
Daemonaquila
(1,712 posts)You don't want them in your yard, pooping just like the birds, the bunnies, the raccoons, and all the other wildlife. You don't want them eating the birds just like the Cooper's hawks, kestrels, and other raptor and mammalian predators already in your back yard.
Every animal has its parasites, diseases, etc. that affects something else. Big whoop. Cats aren't more of a problem than any other animal out in the environment.
Gormy Cuss
(30,884 posts)That said, it's disingenuous to blame just cats for the loss of songbirds rather than also placing the blame on loss of habitat through construction, diversion, and other human actions as well as on predation by other nonnative species.
SHRED
(28,136 posts)The estimated kill rates are two to four times higher than mortality figures previously bandied about, and position the domestic cat as one of the single greatest human-linked threats to wildlife in the nation. More birds and mammals die at the mouths of cats, the report said, than from automobile strikes, pesticides and poisons, collisions with skyscrapers and windmills and other so-called anthropogenic causes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/science/that-cuddly-kitty-of-yours-is-a-killer.html
hamsterjill
(15,224 posts)SHRED
(28,136 posts)Next
leftyladyfrommo
(18,874 posts)Beluga whales don't eat cats. Don't even have anything to do with cats.
I'll bet those whales have been harbouring those parasites for decades and people just didn't know it.
Mz Pip
(27,462 posts)Cats can carry the parasite sometimes in their feces but it is also found in raw meat.
JoeyT
(6,785 posts)cats are the only animals it can sexually reproduce in. It can infect and asexually reproduce in pretty much anything with warm blood.
Even if cats ceased to exist, the stuff would keep spreading between predators and prey and through contaminated water.
Who knows how it got to the whales. Rats off a ship? Someone on a ship with an infected cat chucking a litterbox overboard?
Daemonaquila
(1,712 posts)In our country alone, 60 million people are infected with Toxoplasmosis. That's almost 20% of the US population. We're the ones dumping our crap into the water, whether off ships or down water channels laden with our ever increasing fecal products. So quit blaming the rats and the cats. WE are the problem.
http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/gen_info/faqs.html
JoeyT
(6,785 posts)This parasite specifically evolved to take advantage of rats and cats. This is the one that makes rats attracted to cat urine so it can get into a cat, because getting in a cat is the only way it can sexually reproduce.
It spreads by oocysts in fecal matter (Which only come from cats) and eating infected tissue (zoitocysts).
People got it from eating animals that weren't cooked well enough and from contaminated cat fecal matter.
bananas
(27,509 posts)Given that water supplies might be contaminated, the Inuit populations have been advised to filter or boil their water to destroy the parasite. The organism is hardy, and will survive immersion in chlorine or sulphuric acid, but can be killed by heat, desiccation or freezing.
The rise in pet cats among the Inuit and a warming climate which helps the pathogen survive until it finds a host could be to blame for the emergence of the infection, Grigg told the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Chicago.
"Ice is a major eco-barrier for pathogens. What we are seeing with the big thaw is the liberation of pathogens gaining access to vulnerable new hosts and wreaking havoc," he added.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Found worldwide, T. gondii is capable of infecting virtually all warm-blooded animals.[2] In humans, it is one of the most common parasites;[3] serological studies estimate that up to a third of the global population has been exposed to and may be chronically infected with T. gondii, although infection rates differ significantly from country to country.[4] Although mild, flu-like symptoms occasionally occur during the first few weeks following exposure, infection with T. gondii generally produces no symptoms in healthy human adults.[5][6] However, in infants, HIV/AIDS patients, and others with weakened immunity, infection can cause serious and occasionally fatal illness (toxoplasmosis).[5][6]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Steviehh
(115 posts)Parasite causes humans to cuddle, feed, and take care of cats. Had it all my life, as well as lots of cats.
Can whales keep cats?