English

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of malathion on the immune system of wild birds, using Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) as a model. Quail were exposed to malathion in drinking water at environmentally realistic concentrations (0 ppm, 1 ppm, and 10 ppm). In the fifth week, several arms of the immune response were tested using the T-cell based phytohemagglutinin (PHA) skin test, the B-cell mediated antibody response, and the chemiluminescence assay measuring innate immunity. After the sixth week of malathion exposure, quail were challenged with E. coli O2. The bursa of Fabricius and the spleen were assessed for histopathology.

Because of health concerns, persistence, and long-term environmental effects, the impact of pesticides on agriculture and public health has been the subject of considerable research. People exposed to pesticides had over a fourfold increased risk to Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), neuroblastoma, child brain development defects, Parkinson’s disease, prostate cancer, leukemia in children, male infertility and miscarriage.

A subacute toxicity study of acetamiprid was undertaken in 72 female wistar rats in four groups (18 each). Three different concentrations of acetamiprid (25, 100 and 200 mg/kg of body weight) were administered orally to rats. Untreated rat served as control. The antibody titre of sheep red blood cells (SRBC) in all the treated groups and decrease in cell mediated immune response (CMI) were evaluated by delayed type hypersensitivity reaction to dinitroflurobenzene (DNFB). Our results revealed that in 200 mg/kg body treated rats, there were significant (Pd≤0.01) decrease in mean values of total leukocyte count and relative lymphocyte count in rats. Globulin was also decreased significantly (Pd≤0.01) in acetamiprid treated rats compared to control. There was a significant decrease (Pd≤0.01) in spleen weight in rats treated with 200 mg/kg dose as compared to control. Histopathological examination of spleen revealed depletion of lymphocytes from Malpighian corpuscles in all treated groups in a dose dependent manner. The results indicated that acetamiprid suppressed both CMI and antibody forming ability of lymphocytes.

Ingestion is probably the most common way that birds are exposed to pesticides. Birds can swallow the pesticide directly, such as when a bird mistakes a pesticide granule for a seed, or indirectly, by consuming contaminated prey. They may also ingest pesticide residues off feathers while preening, or they may drink or bathe in tainted water. Pesticides can also be absorbed through the skin, or inhaled when pesticides are applied aerially.

Pesticides can also affect birds indirectly by either reducing the amount of available food or altering habitat.

Fears are increasing in Germany that blackbirds Turdus merula are being wiped out by a tropical disease, while tests are being conducted on a number of cadavers to try to find out why they died. Reports of mass deaths of blackbirds through the Rhine-Neckar area of Germany have been gathering pace over the last few weeks, and on Wednesday the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, pointed the finger at the Usutu virus which comes from Africa.

In a two-part article (attached), authors Marilyn Steiner and Stephen Goodwin shine a spotlight on neonicotinoid pesticides against a backdrop of widespread use of this group and concerning reports of an alarming and increasing loss of biodiversity. While honey bees have been the focus of concern, other pollinators and invertebrates, birds and even the lowly earthworm are at risk. Stephen Goodwin and Marilyn Steiner are IPM consultants trading as Biocontrol Solutions at Mangrove Mountain. Email: sgoodwin.msteiner@gmail.com

We are reporting a case of self poisoning with imidacloprid leading to severe psychiatric symptoms and respiratory failure. A forty one year male patient was brought to emergency with alleged history of self ingestion of 75ml 70% imidacloprid three hours before admission. He had developed nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, muscle twitching and difficulty in breathing within 30 minutes of ingestion of poison. He was immediately resuscitated with endotracheal intubation and ventilated with ambu bag. After 12 hours of ventilation the patient was fully conscious and started developing neuropsychiatric manifestations like agitation and delirium. Due to severe agitation he self extubated so he was sedated and reintubated. After 96 hours, neuropsychiatric manifestations subsided and he was weaned off from the ventilator and extubated on day five.

I have been reading recent reports on Tree Sparrow Passer montanus decline in Nottinghamshire and the UK and these are pointing fingers mostly at habitat destruction and modern hedgerow management practices leading to a lack of winter food and shelter but I wonder if this is the complete picture? Tree Sparrow populations seem to be doing fairly well on a lot of our Wetland Nature Reserves in the country and I wonder if this is down not just to very good feeding regimes in place on these sites but also because these sites are very rich in insect life during the breeding period and when the chicks hatch, which sadly a lot of our agricultural land no longer is.

To many people bugs are pests but in reality out of the millions of species worldwide only a tiny handful are actually true pests. The other, harsh, reality is that overall there definitely aren't as many species or numbers of bugs around as there were in the past. Why should that be important and why should we care - after all, insects are pests?

Well for one, many of the birds species we all know and love are declining because of either secondary pesticide poisoning or the lack of insect food available, especially at breeding time. Let's face it; every time we see a bug we don't want, we reach for the spray. Transfer that to an agricultural scale and you get mass extinction on the scale of the dinosaurs, but because many are tiny little inconspicuous creatures that we rarely see, we don't notice or care.

This is a fact: three of the 25 British species of bumblebees are already extinct and half of the remainder have shown serious declines, often up to 70%, since around the 1970s. In addition, around 75% of all butterfly species in the UK have been shown to be in decline. Insects of all sorts play a massive role in our lives and indeed our survival yet we disregard them so easily.