For example, cancer is responsible for a large number of deaths but is not considered a panzootic because the disease is, generally speaking, not infectious.
Many claim that an accidental morbific cause, which infects a great number of animals which ceases activity after a prolonged time period.
[3] In February 2004, avian influenza virus was detected in birds in Vietnam, increasing fears of the emergence of new variant strains.
Studies have shown that H5N1 is very well adapted to domestic duck and geese, making them key in controlling the H5N1 strain and preventing future panzootic events.
[3] Presently, the highly pathogenic Asian strain of Avian Influenza is still continuing to kill poultry and wild birds alike on panzootic scales.
Although viral persistence was notably found within drinking water and feces, the feathers exhibited the most remaining H5N1 strain for up to 160 days.
White Nose Syndrome (WNS) is a rapidly spreading fungal infection responsible for killing millions of bats within the past 9 years in United States and Canada.
[10] Severely infected bats emerge prematurely from hibernation, and if they survive long enough and enter a different hibernaculum, the likelihood of transmission is probably high, because they presumably carry a large load of fungal spores.
[8] Transmission of the infection is either physically from bat-to-bat contact, or from and hibernaculum-to-bat, through the exposure to spores of Geomyces- destructans that were present on a roosting substrate.
[12] Symptoms include sneezing, gasping for air, nasal discharge, coughing, greenish and watery diarrhea, nervousness, depression, muscular tremors, drooping wings, twisting of head and neck, circling, complete paralysis, partial to complete drop in egg production and thin-shelled eggs, swelling of the tissues around the eyes and in the neck, and sudden death.
The fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis can be found on every continent with fertile soil and has contributed to the loss of some species of frogs and salamanders.
[19][20] Some symptoms that are prevalent in affected species include lethargy and loss of equilibrium and begin to die 21 days after infection.
[17] Frogs that have died and are examined show high density of the fungal spores in keratinized areas of the body such as the pelvis, mouth, and underbelly.
Infected amphibians that have escaped or are released into the wild can carry the fungus and therefore invade the surrounding habitats of local species that are not immune to the disease.
[17] To add to the slow progress, the only cure that exists for chytrid fungus is found within laboratories for amphibians in captivity.