Avian Cholera Information National Wildlife Health Center Madison, Wisconsin Wetlands, Waterfowl and Avian Cholera Outbreaks B iologists from the USGS, in collaboration with other resource agencies, have been working to untangle the ecological complexities of an infectious bacterial disease called avian cholera. Integrated studies on waterfowl and wetland ecosystems have been investigating how avian cholera is maintained and spread across the country. Results implicate birds as the most likely reservoir for perpetuating this deadly disease.
Avian cholera is one of the most common diseases among wild North American waterfowl.
It is the result of infection with the bacterium Pasteurella multocida . This bacterium kills swiftly, sometimes in as few as six to twelve hours after infection. Live bacteria released into the environment by dead and dying birds can subsequently infect healthy birds. As a result, avian cholera can spread quickly through a wetland and kill thousands of birds in a single outbreak. Avian cholera often affects the same wetlands and the same bird populations year after year.