Winning against Whirling Disease with Dr. Mark Taylor. Animal Health Insights, Ep. 13. Feb. 16, 2022

As caretakers and advocates for the animal populations within the wilderness areas in Canada’s national park system, teams of wildlife experts work collaboratively to try to maintain this balance of health in their regions of care. In the past few years, in Alberta’s national parks, Parks Canada wildlife specialists were challenged to manage an outbreak of a disease within one of the park’s watershed systems. Whirling disease is a condition affecting fish and causing abnormal swimming patterns because of physical malformations. Dr. Mark Taylor, an aquatic biologist with Parks Canada in Banff National Park, works in all aspects of aquatic resource management, and worked with others in Alberta and Canada to manage this threat to the wild fish populations through the use of some novel strategies.

Links of Interest:

• Environmental Impact Analysis: Whirling Disease Eradication from Johnson Lake, Banff National Park
• Information re: the Tubifex worm theseis: Whelan, C. (2020). Distribution and habitat characteristics of Tubifex tubifex, intermediate host of whirling disease, in Banff National Park (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/112571
• Overview of Whirling Disease Biology and Management: Sarker S, Kallert DM, Hedrick RP, El-Matbouli M. Whirling disease revisited: pathogenesis, parasite biology and disease intervention. Dis Aquat Organ. 2015 May 21;114(2):155-75. doi: 10.3354/dao02856. PMID: 25993890.
• Whirling Disease confirmed in fish from Johnson Lake in Banff National Park, Parks Canada
• Whirling Disease Fact Sheet, CFIA
• First known publication re: eradication of Whirling Disease: Nehring RB, Alves J, Nehring JB, Felt B. Elimination of Myxobolus cerebralis in Placer Creek, a Native Cutthroat Trout Stream in Colorado. J Aquat Anim Health. 2018 Dec;30(4):264-279. doi: 10.1002/aah.10039. Epub 2018 Aug 21. PMID: 30133011.