1. DISEASE OUTBREAKS AMONG PENGUINS AT SUB-ANTARCTIC MARION ISLAND: A CONSERVATION CONCERN.
- Author
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COOPER, JOHN, CRAWFORD, ROBERT J. M., DE VILLIERS, MARIENNE S., DYER, BRUCE M., HOFMEYR, G. J. GREG, and JONKER, ANNELIZE
- Subjects
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DISEASE outbreaks , *PENGUINS , *KING penguin , *CHICKEN cholera , *VIBRIO infections , *DISEASES - Abstract
The article reports on avian disease outbreaks at sub-Antarctic Marion Island, one of South Africa's Prince Edward Islands in the south-west Indian Ocean, and considers what procedures should be adopted to reduce the risks of further outbreaks at the island group. Several species of King Penguins Aptenodytes patagonicus and an estimated 5-10 thousand Macaroni Penguins Eudyptes chrysolophus were reportedly killed by unknown diseases in the island during 1992 and 1993. An outbreak of avian cholera Pasteurella multocida was also reported in the same island during November 2004. Procedures for preventing these outbreaks have been developed in the islands and in Antarctica.
- Published
- 2009