It is with pleasure and great anticipation that I welcome you to the second INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL CONFERENCE ON VETERINARY MEDICINE:  DISEASES OF EXOTIC ANIMALS AND WILDLIFE.  The international, and potentially global, nature of this conference allows us to not only learn about wildlife disease issues from around the world, but to begin to understand the underlying ecological processes that result in overt disease and subsequent wildlife dieoffs.  Pathogens, parasites, and pollutants have been part of natural systems for centuries, and some of the wildlife diseases that we can now diagnose with such alacrity and specificity also are not new, only better identified.  New diseases, however, have emerged and others have increased in severity and scope as humans have encroached on the landscape through population expansion and industrialization.  Increases in toxic algal blooms, for example, may be the result of a higher rate of nutrient discharge into coastal waters due to greater human populations and industrial-scale livestock production.  Infectious diseases have been introduced accidentally to wildlife populations, such as occurred with avian cholera (Pasteurella multocida) and duck viral enteritis (a herpes virus) in North American waterfowl.  Crowding of animals onto smaller habitat refugia then creates greater opportunity for spread of such disease agents.  That diseases can spread rapidly through susceptible wildlife populations has been amply illustrated by the movement of rabies up the eastern seaboard of the US or through the fox populations of Europe, and most recently by the rapid spread of rabbit calicivirus in Australia.  As human habitation restructures the landscape, we further modify wildlife habitat, stressing organisms through changing water temperatures, elimination of dispersion corridors, or erection of physical barriers such as dams, high voltage electrical lines, or superhighways.  Even well-meaning human intervention in wildlife support structures can initiate and spread disease, such as artificial congregation of songbirds at feeders and the resulting spread of Mycobacterium gallisepticum conjunctivitis in house- and goldfinch populations or salmonellosis in many passerine species in the U.S.

As you browse through the wealth of information provided in this international discussion of wildlife diseases, I urge you to look beyond your particular area of expertise.  Sample the descriptions of disease processes in other organisms or by unfamiliar etiologies or from distant areas of the world.  In addition to broadening the scope of your understanding of diseases, look for underlying similarities and patterns of where pathogens are found, which species exhibit disease, and frequency of outbreak reports.  If similar diseases are being reported from diverse areas of the world, is there an underlying similarity of environmental conditions that may allow this to occur?  Practicing eco-epidemiology, while pursuing our more detailed studies of pathogenesis and etiology, may lead to surprising conclusions about underlying causes of environmental diseases.  Sometimes, we find unintended consequences from what were previously thought to be benign activities.   Often, it is more efficacious to treat the environment, than to treat the affected animals (such as treatment or reduction of hazardous wastes) while other circumstances require wildlife treatment while pursuing long term environmental goals (e.g., treatment of botulism outbreaks that are occurring as a result of habitat alterations caused by global climate change).

This forum provides a unique opportunity for learning about and furthering our understanding of wildlife disease.  It is an international venue that will hopefully become truly global in nature.   Opportunities are available for interactive communication with the authors and scientists who are presenting their findings, as well as for deliberative study of the information presented.  I welcome you to this forum, and am quite certain you will find yourself thinking on a more global scale as you enjoy your tour through the wealth of information presented on the following web pages.