On This Page You Will Find:

• A list of web links related to MG and other avian health sites.
• A short list of major newspaper articles on the MG outbreak.
• The text versions of selected public documents referred to the preceding sections

---

 

Consolidated List of Selected Web Links Appearing Previously and other Links of Interest (URLs are provided for those making text copies of, or printing this page):

Sites Dealing with MG:

• Fischer CDC/EID House Finch Conjunctivitis Article (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol3no1/fischer2.htm)
• Ley CDC/EID House Finch Mycoplasma gallisepticum DNA Study
• (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol3no3/ley.htm)
• Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology House Finch Study (http://www.ornith.cornell.edu/HOFI/HOFIdisease.htm)
• Mycoplasma Gallisepticum, an article about MG in poultry (http://www.avian.umn.edu/SFPC/Mycoplasma.html)
• PROMED-AHEAD Result for query "Mycoplasma gallisepticum" (http://www.healthnet.org/cgi-bin/webglimpse/usr/www/htdocs/.wg/promed?query=Mycoplasma+gallisepticum&errors=0&age=&maxfiles=50&maxlines=30)
  
  

Bird Feeder Safety and Hygiene:

• How to Make a Bird Feeder a Safe and Healthy Place (http://www.birdware.com/astrid.htm)
• NBS Diseases of Birds at Urban Feeding Stations (http://cdserver.er.usgs.gov/folio.pgi/DISEASES.NFO?)
• Office of Migratory Bird Management, USFWS Bird Pamphlets Page (http://www.fws.gov/r9mbmo/pamphlet/pamplets.html)
• OMBM Pamphlet - Backyard Bird Problems (http://www.fws.gov/r9mbmo/pamphlet/prob.html)
• OMBM Pamphlet - Backyard Bird Feeding (http://www.fws.gov/r9mbmo/pamphlet/feed.html)

Note:  The National Wildlife Health Center publishes a brochure entitled Coping with Diseases at Bird Feeders, which, while not discussing MG specifically, offers a general overview of the problem of disease spread at feeders and tips on coping with it. It can be obtained by writing them at their address:

National Wildlife Health Center
Biological Resources Division
6006 Schroeder Road
Madison, WI 53711
phone: (608) 271-4640

House Finches:

• NBS Carpodacus Mexicanus Master List (1982-1996) (http://www.mbr.nbs.gov/id/mlist/h5190.html)
• NBS House Finch Species Account (1966 to 1994) (http://www.mbr.nbs.gov/bbs/htmac/a5190.html)
• House Finch Range Time Series (1970-1989) (http://www.npsc.nbs.gov/resource/distr/birds/breedrng/maps/grosowsp/finch/hofi4.htm)
• CBC House Finch Winter Range (1966 to 1989) http://www.mbr.nbs.gov/bbs/cbcra/h5190ra.html
• Birds of the Imperial Valley (House Finch) (http://www.imperial.cc.ca.us/birds/h-finch.htm)
  
  

Wildlife Rehabilitation:

• Wildlife Rehabilitation (WLREHAB) Listserv Website (http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/devold/twrid/html/index.htm)
• Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research Center (See also their section under "Current Concerns" for further information about "Conjunctivitis in House Finches.") (http://www.tristatebird.org)
• See "Links to Text Files" below for the NCSU/Tri-State Study MG Treatment Protocol
  
  

Wildlife and Avian Health Sites:

• Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study (http://www.vet.uga.edu/scwds.html)
• National Wildlife Health Center home page (http://www.emtc.nbs.gov/nwhchome.html)
• NWHC Disease Fact Sheets (http://www.emtc.nbs.gov/http_data/nwhc/factshts/facts.html)
• Wildlife Health Information Partnership (http://www.emtc.nbs.gov/http_data/whip/whiphmpg.html)
• WHIP Wildlife Disease Outbreak Information (MG) (http://www.emtc.nbs.gov/http_data/whip/outbrks.html) or
• Wildlife Health News and Announcements (http://www.emtc.nbs.gov/http_data/whip/newsand.html)
  
  

Links to Postings By the Author placed on the WWW by Others:

• Birdwatch archive: Important Article on House Finch Disease (http://whale.simmons.edu/archives/birdwatch/0197.html)
• Cape Cod Connection (http://www.capecodconnection.com/capecod/birds/ccfinch.htm)
• PROMED-AHEAD: Mycoplasma gallisepticum-USA:RFI (http://www.healthnet.org/programs/promed-hma/9606/msg00174.html)

 

MG in the Media

I am aware of a number of articles that have appeared in major newspapers about the MG outbreak but, unfortunately, have references for only the following:

• Avian Epidemic, Washington Post, May 8, 1994, page B5.
• This Spring, The Songbirds Sing Songs of Sorrow; Wildlife Officials Seek Cause of Avian Illness, Washington Post, May  12, 1994, page B1.
• The Trouble With Finches; Avian plague hits bird feeder flock, Newsday, November 3, 1995, Page A7.
• Epidemic Is Killing House Finches While Other Songbirds Are Spared, The New York Times, Dec. 12, 1995, Science Times, page C1 
• Kindness Could Blind Birds; Hanging Feeders May Spread Finch Disease, Chicago Tribune, March 29, 1997 (This article may still be available by searching the Tribune's website archives, see URL @ http://www.chicago.tribune.com/)
• Wild Life: House Finch Disease Alarms Bird Watchers, the Detroit News, January 6, 1996, (http://www.detnews.com/menu/stories/30999.htm)
  
  

[I also understand the Milwaukee Journal ran an article about MG's having spread to goldfinches, published sometime in the Spring of 1996. Additionally, the Wisconsin State Journal informs me that they well be adding an archive seach to their website soon. Hopefully it will include an article I am aware on the MG outbreak and can be linked to from here. If any readers know of additional articles on the MG outbreak, newspaper or magazine, please drop me a line and I will include them here as well.]

Often news about the disease appears in the nature columns of local and "small town" newspapers, some of which appear online.  The following is a very good example of just such coverage:

• Ken Hodgdon's Nature Notes (Cumberland Times-News) (http://www.times-news.com/nn/nn28.htm)
  

State and local Cooperative Extension Service newsletters have also been a source of information on the spread of MG in finches, particularly as it arrives in new areas for the first time.  The following example from Nebraska is a case in point:

• Research Nebraska: House Finch Disease Spreading (http://www.ianr.unl.edu/ianr/ard/rn/0397/finch.htm)
  
  

Additionally, the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology's quarterly newsletter BIRDSCOPE  carries ongoing reports from its House Finch Study, though as yet none have appeared in their online sample articles.

 

 

Links to text files of selected documents referred to in the previous pages:

Text-only Copy of Fischer CDC/EID article, Mycoplasmal Conjunctivitis in Wild Songbirds: The Spread of a New Contagious Disease in a Mobile Host Population, February, 1997

Text-only Copy of the Ley EID MG DNA Study, Molecular Epidemiologic Investigations of Mycoplasma gallisepticum Conjunctivitis in Songbirds by Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Analyses, EID July-Sept., 1997

SCWDS Briefs, Summer 96, Clinical Mycoplasmosis in House Finches, (caution to quarantine)

Michigan Dept. of Agriculture Dec. 9, 1996 New Release (warning of possible danger of Finch MG to poultry)

SCWDS Briefs, 4/97, study on MG Transmission between Finches and Chickens

USF&WS draft Briefing Statement, as of Aug. 1996, on the House Finch Disease Outbreak

NCSU/Tri-State Study MG Treatment Protocol , excerpted from the Summer 1996 issue of the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association Quarterly Journal.

    

© 1997 James Cook
All Rights Reserved