3 Gators Found With West Nile

November 13, 2002
By GREG C. BRUNO, Sun staff writer

Animal health experts at the University of Florida and the Florida Department of Health have identified the West Nile virus in three Florida alligators, the first time the disease has been observed in the North American species, wildlife experts said Tuesday.

Lisa Conti, the state's public health veterinarian, confirmed that three farm-raised alligators tested positive for the mosquito-borne illness last month, but said it was too early to determine if West Nile was responsible for the reptile's clinical maladies, which included disorientation and balance problems.

A university official said the gators were euthanized shortly after testing was completed.

But as local, state and federal epidemiologists continue their investigation, the virus's detection has raised concern among some alligator farmers who are worried about the virus's potential effects on the state's captive alligator populations.

In mid-October, after the onset of "strange and very sudden" symptoms, more than 300 alligators died at Clabrook Farm Inc. in Orange County during Christmastime.

Three of those 300 alligators were sent to UF for testing before they died. University experts confirmed through tissue analysis that they had tested positive for the oft-fatal virus. Those were the only alligators tested.

While the findings mark "the first time (West Nile) has been identified in this species in the country," Conti said, it is not the first unexplained gator kill to have been observed at Clabrook.

The first "sudden death" incident at the Orange County farm occurred four years ago, co-owner Kobi Kagen said. Then, in September, hundreds more passed away after exhibiting symptoms similar to those displayed last month. Kagen said he is aware of at least four other farms in the state that have experienced similar gator kills and one in Georgia.
Until the university's findings, Kagen said he blamed himself.

"We thought maybe somebody was poisoning them," he said. "But it was not affecting all of the pens. It's strange. It's strange and very sudden."

Now, the 56-year-old Kagen said he hopes the recent discovery will help shed light on what he and other gator producers must do to protect their investments and the state's $3.5 million alligator industry. Still, state veterinary and animal health experts caution that it is too early to pinpoint West Nile as the cause of illness in any of the Clabrook gators. The officials questioned whether the alligators died of something else and were just carriers of the West Nile virus.

In addition, it remains unclear what effect, if any, the findings will have on the state's alligator farming industry.
"The simple fact is, we don't know at this point," Conti said. "This is a new finding, and there is research ongoing to answer those types of questions."

Since its detection in the New York area three years ago, West Nile has moved rapidly from birds and wildlife populations to humans.

This year, more than 3,500 cases of West Nile have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with 211 deaths in 38 states and the District of Columbia. Last year, only 66 people fell ill, with 10 deaths.

In Florida, the state Department of Health confirmed the 18th human case of the virus last week - a 43-year-old Marion County resident. Thirty-six counties in Florida are currently under West Nile medical alert, Conti said.

The CDC also has been investigating reports from states with evidence that West Nile can be transmitted through blood transfusions and organ transplants, as well as from mother to child through breast milk. But while the virus continues to threaten public health, the impact on humans may pale compared to its ravaging effects on bird and wildlife populations.

Since the virus was first detected in crows, more than 100 species of birds have been found dead in the United States, most identified through public reporting.

While no one knows how many birds have been affected, some state authorities have stopped collecting dead birds because "they have sufficiently established that the virus is in an area, and additional testing will not reveal any more information," according to an update on the CDC's Web site.

Some ornithologists, such as Andre Dhondt of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., estimate that in the worst-affected areas, 90 percent of the crows are gone.

Others, such as John Rappole of the Smithsonian Conservation and Research Center in Virginia, have warned that carrier species, such as the common house sparrow, can travel many miles with the virus in their blood, passing it on to mosquitoes, which then can pass it to susceptible birds, such as the Florida scrub jay, or other endangered species living in American zoos, as well as to humans. In addition to birds, the virus has been found in horses, chickens, bats, rabbits and two months ago, a 12-year-old New Jersey State Aquarium harbor seal named Sirrus.

Add to that list the American alligator. Still, despite the virus's recent rampage through the country's bird and wildlife populations, and its detection in the Clabrook facility, state and federal alligator experts said Tuesday they were not concerned the disease would become endemic in wild populations.

"There is no indication that West Nile contributes to alligator mortality in the wild," said Stephen Stiegler, assistant director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's alligator management section. "We don't know how significant" the university's findings are, Stiegler said, "but it is interesting."

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