S6 E8: We All Go Around in Circles: The Story of Whirling Diease

WEBVTT

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This is Jackie Moranti, host of
Cause of Death on the Darkcast Network.

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On my show, we usually discuss
war, death, destruction, and disease,

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Cause of Death, available wherever you
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Do you hate getting stuck in rush
our traffic? Do you find yourself

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dozing off trying to get home?
Do you start daydreaming about the paranormal and

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forget you're sitting behind the wheel.
If the answer is yes, then don't

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wait another minute. Tune into the
Paranormal Pieces podcast. We are ready to

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entertain you Darkcast Network. Come on
over to the dark Side. We're really

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nice people once you get past the
true crime and scary science. Hello and

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welcome to Cause of Death. One
hundred seconds to midnight. I'm your host,

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Jackie Morante. In the last fifty
years, more than four thousand animals

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have become extinct, from invertebrates to
mammals. We've lost four thousand species that

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are vital to their habitats. It's
ninety seconds to midnight, and our wild

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life suffers under the heavy burden of
human encroachment. From logging to oil drilling,

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over to development of wild lands to
water diversion. Animals are disappearing,

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never to be seen again. Hello
and welcome to Cause of Death. One

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hundred seconds to midnight. I'm your
host, Jackie Moranti. I changed my

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mind mid script. I decided that
I needed to finish this season with a

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one hundred seconds to midnight episode on
extinction. I thought that would be more

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appropriate. So this week I'm going
to talk about the last disease in this

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season. We're going to look at
whirling disease in fish. Let's begin with

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ideology and pathology. This will be
a new pathogen for us. Mixobolus cerebrallus

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is a mixozoan parasite. Whirling disease
is caused by the actinosporean spores of the

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parasite. This parasite has a complex
two host life cycle. The parasite alternates

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between the sledge worm tube effects tube
effects and the salmonid host. The Triactino

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Mixon spores are water born and when
they are released from the infected sledge worms,

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they attach to the salmonid host by
a polar filament extrusion brought on by

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nucleoside and thigamotropy stimuli. This is
rapidly followed by active penetration of the sporoplasms

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into the fish epidermis. Once the
parasites are in the sporoplasms multiply and travel

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along the peripheral nerves and the central
nervous system to reach the cartilage, where

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they form trophosites, which continue to
multiply and produce more spores. M.

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Celebrellus mixospores are released into the environment
when infected fish stye or when they are

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consumed and excreted by predators. Mixospores
that are released into the water are ingested

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by t tube effects, where they
develop intercellularly in the intestine over a period

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of about three months. They go
through four developmental stages inside of the worm,

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then they mature as actinospores. The
salmonids then ingest the worms, and

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the parasite cycle begins all over again
with a new host. That is pretty

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much the life cycle of M.
Cerebrallas. Most parasites will begin as larvae

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in the environment, then they'll move
to an intermediate host, then to their

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final host. Let's talk about salmon. It's for a minute. Salmon Idia

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is a family of elongated bony fish. The last three vertebrae of these fish

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are upturned. The fish that are
specifically affected by M. Cerebrallas are salmon

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and trout. The main species of
fish that are infected are rainbow trout.

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I'm going to make a quick mention
that rainbow trout are considered an endangered species

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in some areas of North America.
They've not only been threatened by whirling disease,

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but pollution and invasive species taking over
their spawning grounds has also caused a

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decline in populations. I promise that
while I'm on my break, I'll be

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releasing the house that Jack built.
That episode is all about how invasive species

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are threatening native species across the world. In the next episode on Extinction,

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I'll be talking about how pollution affects
wildlife. They're both really important topics.

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Whirling disease has become a serious threat
to salmond species, and it's just about

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impossible to control. The pathogenicity of
the parasite is due to the host immune

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response. The parasite evades the immune
system of the salmonid, and this allows

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m cebralus to proliferate within the host
during the first stages of infection. The

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lack of an appropriate regulatory response from
the immune system results in an excessive inflammatory

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response. With special focus on T
and B lymphosite and immunoglobular responses. The

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parasite attacks the cartilage of the head
and spine. Symptoms increase as the parasite

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invades the nervous system. Fish infested
with the parasite may exhibit a whirling behavior,

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head deformities including a sloped head where
the cartilage has been eaten away,

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twisted spines, crooked tails, and
a darkening of the skin from the vent

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to the tail. Due to nerve
compression. The rate of breathing will be

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increased. Mortality is very high among
fry. This disease makes these fish more

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vulnerable to predation, and as the
disease progresses, they can no longer find

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food, causing many of them to
die of malnutrition. There is no known

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cure for whirling disease, but research
is ongoing. The modes of transmission for

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whirling disease are contact within effected animals, the sledge worm, contaminated equipment,

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and contaminated water. Keeping this in
mind, there are things that we can

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all do to help stop the spread
of whirling disease. The best method is

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to control the tube effects worm.
Many states that are considered hotspots are working

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on eliminating the worm that carries the
parasite and this would be the most effective

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mode of control. The problem with
the elimination of the tube effects worm is

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that it can involve chemicals that are
also toxic to fish and other aquatic life.

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Copper sulfate, formulin, and malachite
green have all been considered, but

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this is considered a last resort.
The starvation method can also be used,

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but this involves draining the waterway and
allowing it to dry out until the worms

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die. This is also impractical since
it would have negative effects on the aquatic

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wildlife living in those streams and ponds. Of course, quarantining fish stock before

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transfer as a must. If any
fish are exhibiting symptoms of whirling disease,

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they should not be used to stock
ponds. Fishermen, boaters, and anyone

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else who enjoys a day at the
lake can take some simple precautions to help

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stop the spread of whirling disease.
Remember to rinse any mud or debris from

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your equipment. Dispose of any unused
bait in the trash or on land rather

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than in the water. Tube effects
worms can't survive without water. Never transfer

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live fish from one body of water
to another. Don't use trout, salmon

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parts, or mullusk as, cut
bait, and never discard fish and trails

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or skeletal parts in a body of
water. I'll be doing a season on

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parasites eventually. There's a lot to
talk about with them. Even if their

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etiology is is pretty simple. It's
important to remember that m cerebrallas does not

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affect people. I won't encourage anyone
to eat any raw meat because there are

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other things that are human pathogens,
but not this one. Feel free to

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catch and eat any trout or salmon. It's good for you. We're going

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to take a quick break to hear
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to talk about the history of m. Cerebrallas. Did you know that planting

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The first report of whirling disease came
out of Germany in the late eighteen seventies.

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It was seen in rainbow trout and
brook trout. Some stories say that

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the eggs had been imported from the
United States into Germany so that they could

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supplement the culture of the native trout, but that is not confirmed as there

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were never any reports of M.
Cerebrallus in the United States before Germany started

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reporting it. The disease killed most
of the fish in the fish farms where

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it was found. Bruno Hoefer was
the first to find the parasite. He

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was very active in the field of
fish parasitology and pathology. He was known

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for his work in environmental protection.
He wrote over two hundred papers addressing the

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importance of clean water. He also
wrote several papers on Mixabolis cerebrallus. The

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original report described a mixosporidian of trout
that infected the brain. Hence the parasite

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was called Mixabolis cerebrallus. When Marianne
Plan came along in nineteen o four,

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she noticed that this was a parasite
that tacked the skeletal tissue, and she

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proposed changing the name to Mixabolis chandraphagis. The change was not accepted by the

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scientific community at the time because it
didn't follow the rules of zoological nomenclature,

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so the name Lentosporas cerebralis was introduced. This genus described something similar to Mixabolis,

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but that particular genus didn't have a
vacule within the spore. Plan was

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the first to give a detailed description
of the disease in nineteen oh five.

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She described the initial stages of infection
and the erosion of the cartilage. She

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also found the large lesions that contained
parasites and the debris from cartilage degradation.

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She speculated that since the cartilanogis region
around the auditory capsule was invaded, either

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the toxins were released by the parasite
or the destruction of the capsule was causing

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the fish to have war equilibrium.
This is what was causing them to whorl.

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The weakening of the vertebral column posterior
to the twenty sixth vertebra was thought

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to exert pressure on the caudal nerves. This disrupted the melanin and caused the

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black tail. Cranial deformities such as
sunken eyes and a predominantly open or twisted

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lower jaw were chalked up to the
loss of cartilage during bone formation. She

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noticed that fish that made it to
their second year developed epithelioid granulomas, resulting

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in secondary damage to the fish.
She surmised that when the cartilage ossified,

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the spores became encapsulated, and this
would stop the occurrence of new infections.

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She believed that the fish acquired the
disease by ingesting the spores. She also

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did experiments on the spores themselves,
exposed them to drying and freezing, and

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found that the spores had an ability
to survive for long periods of time in

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harsh environments before finding a viable host. This led her to believe that the

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eradication of spores would be almost impossible. At this time, the Germans didn't

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know where the disease came from,
but it was devastating fisheries. In nineteen

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twenty two, speculation arose that the
disease had come from feeding rainbow trout raw

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cod, but this was unlikely.
Whirling disease exhibits symptoms that mimic other diseases

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of fish. This meant that researchers
had to accurately identify the disease before they

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could really figure out what caused it. Diagnostic methods were limited to observing the

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symptoms and fish that were aged zero
plus in fish that had passed their first

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winter and were longer than ten centimeters. The spores could be found in histological

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samples, and this was done by
dissecting the vestibular organ. Wilhelm's shaper Claus

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noticed that the disease was spreading across
Europe by fish breeders. He accused the

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breeders of hiding fish that were exhibiting
symptoms from buyers and essentially lying about the

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health of the fish that they were
selling for transport to other parts of the

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continent. By nineteen thirty one,
when Shaperclaus was observing the spread of infected

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fish, whirling disease was well established
and it was decimating fish populations. Trout

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production was failing and severe losses were
occurring. Shaperclass noticed four classes of disease

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symptoms, the whirling movements caused by
impairment of the vestibular apparatus, premature death

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without significant signs other than weight loss, chronic disease with darkening of the tail

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caused by damage to the sympathetic nerves, and chronic infection without external signs.

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The fourth condition was particularly worrisome since
fish that weren't exhibiting any symptoms could be

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transported and the breeder would be none
the wiser. These were the fish that

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were the primary cause of the spread. Shaper Class was the guy that shot

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down the theory that the disease was
spread by feeding saltwater fish to trout.

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He had seen that hatcheries all over
Europe were affected, whether they fed cod

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to their fish or not. He
thought that contact between infected fish was the

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culprit, and he was right,
but he mistakenly thought that the brown trout

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were the carriers, not the rainbows. He thought that the brown trout were

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probably carriers since they didn't exhibit symptoms
like the rainbow trout did. Reports began

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to come in about infected eggs being
transported between facilities. Shaperclass thought the explanation

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for this was that the eggs were
coming into contact with shipping materials that were

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transporting the disease. He thought that
the pathogen was adhering to the egg's surface.

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His observations gave rise to a few
guidelines for breeders. The fish were

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to be incubated in well water,
and all equipment was to be disinfected before

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transport so the eggs couldn't come into
contact with any infected fomites. Snails lived

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in many of the infected ponds where
the disease was prevalent, so shaperclass began

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to study them to see if they
were the cause of the disease. He

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examined several snail species in ponds where
whirling disease was prevalent and found that they

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were not the carriers. Had he
kept going and studied more invertebrates, he

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00:20:56.799 --> 00:21:03.359
may have landed on two effects to
effects as the carrier, but he quit

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too soon. He further suggested that
breeders set low flow rates to avoid stirring

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up sediment and limiting the availability of
spores. He also suggested that breeding and

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rearing ponds should be separated. When
this didn't work, he suggested disinfecting unused

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ponds with caustic lime and calcium cyanimide, removing mud from the bottom of the

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pond and throwing away the sickest of
the fish. Scientists are prideful people,

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and there's nothing more exciting than naming
a disease. This was still a subject

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of a debate in nineteen thirty three, when the name was changed again to

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Mixosoma cerebrallus. The Mixosoma spores were
differentiated from the Mixobola spores by their lack

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of an iadiphorest vacuule. Between nineteen
fifty two and nineteen seventy the disease had

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come full circle. After becoming endemic
in several regions of the USSR and making

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its way from Czechoslovakia to Scotland,
it landed in the US. By nineteen

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sixty eight, seven states were reporting
whirling disease. In nineteen seventy one,

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the disease was reported in New Zealand. These reports included symptoms of violent whirling

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motion accompanied by heavy mortality. The
fishery where it was detected had been experiencing

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the disease since nineteen fifty five,
off and on, but they didn't make

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00:22:37.319 --> 00:22:45.079
a report on it for twenty years. Upon examination, spores resembling M.

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00:22:45.160 --> 00:22:52.759
Cerebrallus were isolated from the vertebrae of
rainbow trout at the fishery. Further examination

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00:22:52.839 --> 00:22:56.440
on preserved samples showed that the disease
had been present for at least five years

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before the report was made. At
that time, any fish that were imported

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00:23:03.559 --> 00:23:07.880
into New Zealand were supposed to be
heat treated to keep the disease from entering

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the country, but it was too
late. It had been there since at

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least nineteen fifty five, and possibly
since nineteen fifty two. Let me stop

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the story here for just a minute. I want you all to see this

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trend. This disease could have been
stopped in the nineteen thirties. It could

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00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:33.759
have been contained and wiped out if
only the fish had been destroyed and the

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ponds had been cleaned. The ponds
didn't have to be cleaned with any harsh

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chemicals that would be detrimental to other
wildlife either. All that needed to be

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00:23:44.119 --> 00:23:48.400
done was let them dry out completely, so the worm couldn't live and proliferate.

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Ignorance is bliss unless you're a rainbow
trout. In the US, hatcheries

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were stocking ponds with trout that had
been infected for the spread of whirling disease.

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00:24:03.400 --> 00:24:07.519
In California, between nineteen sixty five
and nineteen eighty five, four commercial

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00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:14.279
growers, one state fish chattery,
and one federal fish hatchery had fish that

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had been diagnosed with whirling disease.
Prior to nineteen eighty four, any fish

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that had been diagnosed with the disease
were destroyed. Control measures had been taking

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00:24:26.119 --> 00:24:33.200
place in Europe beginning in nineteen seventy. The International Office of Epizootics included whirling

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00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:40.240
disease in the International Zoo Sanitary Code, but further legislation by the government was

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quashed for fear that the US government
would close US markets to any country that

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couldn't guarantee that they were transporting fish
that were disease free. And still no

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00:24:52.519 --> 00:24:56.720
one was sure what was causing the
disease. They knew it was a parasite,

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but they didn't know what the reservoir
was. It was assumed that it

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was being transmitted vertically, but that
didn't seem to be the cause, because

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00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:11.680
when eggs were removed from infected waters, the fry wouldn't exhibit symptoms of the

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disease. It was also rightly assumed
that the fish were giving it to one

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00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:21.640
another on contact, but that wasn't
much help. With no original reservoir,

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they needed to find the intermediate host. In nineteen eighty four, Lam and

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00:25:27.519 --> 00:25:33.400
Noble changed the name of the pathogen. Again. It all had to do

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00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:40.920
with that Iadophorus vacuole. The researchers
noticed that the vacuol wasn't always present in

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the specimens. This led them to
the belief that the original name Mixabolus cerebrallus

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00:25:47.720 --> 00:25:52.839
was correct. That same year,
Wolf and Mark discovered a species of triactinal

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00:25:53.000 --> 00:26:02.240
Mixon that was alternating life stages with
M. Cerebrallus, one stage undergoing development

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00:26:02.359 --> 00:26:07.759
in an aquatic worm and the other
in the fish. They had finally found

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00:26:07.759 --> 00:26:14.119
the intermediate host tube effects. Tube
effects the worm was required to complete the

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00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:19.440
life cycle of the parasite. Without
the intermediate the parasite couldn't proliferate in the

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fish. Concrete raceways had replaced earthen
ponds in many hatchrees with some success.

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00:26:27.319 --> 00:26:33.079
However, in those countries still using
earthen ponds, the parasite could live in

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00:26:33.079 --> 00:26:37.160
the worm for several years. When
fish were reintroduced to the ponds, the

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00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:44.160
life cycle started all over again,
as did whirling disease. An earthen pond

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00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:48.400
had been free of fish for almost
thirty years. When fish were reintroduced,

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00:26:48.079 --> 00:26:55.359
the fish got infected and most of
them died. Many of these earthen ponds

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00:26:55.440 --> 00:27:00.160
were being fed from streams where wild
populations lived. As the water washed through

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00:27:00.200 --> 00:27:04.240
the ponds, it brought tube effects
tube effects with it, and the wild

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00:27:04.319 --> 00:27:11.240
populations were soon infected. Gaining an
understanding of the parasite hasn't done much to

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help prevent the disease from spreading.
Today, twenty five states report cases of

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whirling disease in wild trout. The
mortality rate in the wild is unknown.

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00:27:23.759 --> 00:27:29.000
When it comes to diseases that affect
wild populations, it's always a guess.

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In fisheries, mortality rates vary anywhere
from twenty five to ninety percent. This

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disease is not going to wear itself
out, but many government agencies are acting

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00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:47.799
like it will. In nineteen ninety
three, Mixabolus cerebrallus was taken off the

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00:27:47.839 --> 00:27:55.559
list of injurious pathogens. The US
government isn't regulating the transport of the diseased

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00:27:55.599 --> 00:28:00.480
fish either. I guess maybe the
government has bigger fish to fry, but

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00:28:00.599 --> 00:28:06.160
if they allow this parasite to continue
killing off our native fish, we may

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00:28:06.200 --> 00:28:11.680
not have any fish to fry.
Thank you so much for listening to Cause

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00:28:11.720 --> 00:28:17.319
of Death one hundred seconds to midnight. If you'd like to support the show,

273
00:28:17.400 --> 00:28:21.759
you can do so on Apple Subscriptions
or Patreon for as low as a

274
00:28:21.839 --> 00:28:26.359
dollar a month. Don't forget to
stop by True Leaf Market and support my

275
00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:33.519
wonderful sponsor. Get your friends interested
in learning about disease and global crises,

276
00:28:33.720 --> 00:28:37.880
have them drop an ear on the
show. I can be found on all

277
00:28:37.079 --> 00:28:41.720
podcast apps, and if you're so
inclined, I'd ask that you run by

278
00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:48.200
Spotify or Apple Podcasts and give a
five star review. They not only help

279
00:28:48.240 --> 00:28:51.880
the show grow, but they also
help me keep going when I get really

280
00:28:51.960 --> 00:28:57.519
frustrated. Check out the show notes
for the four one one on whirling Disease.

281
00:28:59.240 --> 00:29:03.680
You can also find links to my
sponsors and ways to support Cause of

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00:29:03.720 --> 00:29:08.480
Death one hundred seconds to Midnight now. As a side note, I've had

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00:29:08.519 --> 00:29:15.559
a few people contact me with personal
medical issues. I want to remind everyone

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00:29:15.640 --> 00:29:19.440
that I'm not a medical doctor.
I'm a research scientist. I can give

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00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:23.680
you all kinds of information about a
disease that you may or may not have,

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00:29:25.319 --> 00:29:30.920
but I can't diagnose, prescribe,
or even advise. The only advice

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00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:38.920
that I'll give you is to go
see your doctor. On the brighter side,

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00:29:40.039 --> 00:29:45.599
I've hit fifteen thousand downloads. That's
a big deal. I never thought

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00:29:45.680 --> 00:29:48.759
this podcast would attract as many listeners
as it does, and I want to

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00:29:48.799 --> 00:29:55.759
thank everyone for coming back and passing
the word. Don't forget that. My

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00:29:55.880 --> 00:30:00.000
daughter and I are starting a new
show in October. It's called Diving into

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00:30:00.119 --> 00:30:06.640
Unsolved History. We're going to be
talking about historical mysteries and some of the

293
00:30:06.640 --> 00:30:11.640
theories that surround them. We may
even talk about a few that have been

294
00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:18.319
solved. It's going to be a
fun look at mysterious deaths, disappearances,

295
00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:22.119
and buried treasure. If you find
any of that treasure, though, you

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00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:27.000
have to share it with us.
Thanks again for listening, and I'll see

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00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:32.319
you in two weeks For the final
episode for this season, Who's Who Outside

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00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:37.960
of the Zoo will be ending this
season with a look at how man drives

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00:30:37.119 --> 00:31:03.559
animals to extinction. Until then,
don't watch the Whirling Fish they'll make you dizzy.