There have been five previous documented cases of plague in deer, none of which was in Idaho. The disease most commonly manifests with lesions in the deer’s eyes and results in blindness.
The Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory recently detected the state’s first case of the disease and is now gearing up for increased surveillance and testing of deer populations.
Moose populations have been dwindling for years across the country due to many factors, but new WSU research has found the impact of the arterial worm has likely been underestimated.
The Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory is digitizing its pathology slides and developing computer algorithms to automatically flag samples.
A federally funded project at WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine could be pivotal in detecting emerging viruses that may threaten important and at‑risk aquatic species like salmon.