Fact Sheets

Wildlife Health Australia’s Fact Sheets contain brief, factual information on a wide range of diseases, both infectious and non-infectious, that impact Australian wildlife and feral animals. Information focuses on implications of disease for free-ranging native wildlife, although impacts on humans, domestic and feral animals are included to provide a One Health perspective. Diseases of relevance to Australian wildlife that are exotic to Australia, or zoonotic (transmitted from an animal to a human) are also included. There are also several Fact Sheets on topics of general interest to wildlife health.

Wildlife Health Australia welcomes your feedback on Fact Sheets. Please email admin@wildlifehealthaustralia.com.au. We would also like to hear from you if you have a particular area of expertise and are interested in creating or updating a WHA Fact Sheet. A small amount of funding is available to facilitate this.

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All

Angiostrongylus and Australian wildlife - Nov 2019

Angiostrongylus cantonensis, the rat lungworm, occurs in introduced rats and can cause neurological disease in mammalian and bird hosts. It is a zoonosis. Marsupials and flying-foxes are highly...
Open

Anthrax in Australian wildlife - Sep 2016

In Australia, anthrax is primarily considered a disease of livestock. There is no evidence of anthrax infection of wild or free-ranging animals in Australia. However, given its host range, anthrax...
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Antimicrobial resistance and Australian wildlife - Jul 2019

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is recognized as an issue of emerging global importance. Antimicrobial resistance impairs effective medical and veterinary treatment of bacterial and other microbial...
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Cryptosporidium infection in Australian wildlife - Jan 2023

Cryptosporidium spp. are protozoal parasites that infect a range of vertebrate hosts including mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and amphibians, causing predominantly gastrointestinal...
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Giardia infection in Australian wildlife - Jan 2023

Giardia is a genus of flagellate protozoa within the family Hexamitidae that infects the gastrointestinal tract of vertebrate animals (Ryan and Zahedi 2019). Eight Giardia species have...
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Infectious diseases of biosecurity concern in Australian wildlife - Oct 2021

This fact sheet summarises information on infectious diseases in Australian wildlife that carry biosecurity concerns. While we do our best to keep our fact sheets up to date, due to the rapidly...
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Rodenticide toxicity in Australian wildlife - Feb 2023

There are increasing reports of toxicities associated with rodenticide exposure in Australian wildlife, including birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians. Effects of rodenticides have been studied...
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The impacts of climate change on Australian wildlife - Aug 2023

Climate change can act as a “threat multiplier” of wildlife disease by altering the environment-host-agent-vector balance. The  stress of climate change can be devastating to...
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Trypanosomes in Australian wildlife - Aug 2023

Trypanosomes are protozoa that infect a wide variety of animal species across the world. A range of trypanosome species have been found in Australian wildlife. Endemic Australian...
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West Nile and Kunjin virus in Australia - Apr 2016

West Nile virus (WNV) is an arthropod transmitted virus (arbovirus) with a global distribution on all continents except for Antarctica. Mosquitoes of the genus Culex are the primary vector of WNV...
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Wildlife Health Australia aims to link, inform and support people and organisations who work with or have an interest in wildlife health across Australia through technical advice, facilitation, communications and professional support.