Summarize this article:

Update 9 June 2015: More than half the world's enigmatic saiga antelopes – some 134,000 animals – have been wiped out in Kazakhstan within just three weeks. The culprit has been identified as haemorrhagic septicaemia, caused by the bacterium Pasteurella multocida, according to the World Organization for Animal Health, which says the outbreak is now over. 
  
 Original article, published 27 May 2015 
  
 The death toll of iconic saiga antelopes in central Asia has soared to around 120,000, almost half of the world's remaining population, according to unofficial estimates. Today vets and scientists investigating the catastrophe presented their results so far to government officials in Kazakhstan, where the animals are dying. 
  
 "The current official figure is 85,000, but we are hearing unofficial estimates in excess of 100,000, approaching 120,000," says Aline Kühl-Stenzel of the UN Convention on Migratory Species. 
  
 The animals began dying from an unidentified cause around 10 May. The death toll soared within days to 27,000, at which point the Kazakh government requested help from the secretariat of the convention. A team of vets, led by Richard Kock of the Royal Veterinary College in Hatfield, UK, flew out on Friday. 
  
 "It's very dramatic and traumatic, with 100 per cent mortality," Kock told New Scientist from Betpak-Dala in central Kazakhstan. "I know of no example in history with this level of mortality, killing all the animals and all the calves." The animals die through severe diarrhoea and difficulty breathing. 
  
 Trio of possibilities 
  
 From tissue samples collected earlier by Kazakh researchers, Kock and colleagues have narrowed the cause to three possibilities. One is haemolytic septicaemia, caused by bacteria that are normally harmless, and which also kills buffalo. 
  
 Another, less likely culprit is epizootic haemorrhagic disease, a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes. "We have to do more tests to rule that out," says Kock. The other possibility is toxaemia caused by clostridia bacteria. "We need all the lab tests to be completed and a comprehensive analysis before we can reach any firm conclusions." 
  
 The reason so many animals died at once is linked to the fact that the local females all calve within one week, providing ideal conditions for disease to spread between the animals and to their calves. 
  
 In 2014, there were an estimated 200,000 animals in Betpak-Dala, with a further 60,000 in other regions of central Asia, down from more than a million saiga in the 1990s. 
  
 If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to. ||||| KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Authorities in Kazakhstan says around one-third of the endangered saiga antelope population in this Central Asian nation has mysteriously died off in the last few days. 
  
 Kazakhstan's agriculture ministry said Friday the number of saiga that have died may have reached 85,000. 
  
 The ministry says it suspects the animals, which are recognizable for their distinctive humped snout, may have been struck by an epidemic of pasteurellosis caused by a bacterial infection. Officials say international veterinarian experts have been flown to Kazakhstan to study other possible causes for the catastrophic die-off. 
  
 The number of saiga plummeted in the 1990s as a result of poaching. At the latest Kazakh government count in 2014, the saiga population stood at 257,000. 
  
 Saiga are also found in smaller numbers in parts of Russia. |||||
– After many thousands of years roaming much of central Asia, the saiga antelope has had a terrible couple of decades—and a devastating few weeks. A mysterious illness that causes severe diarrhea and breathing difficulties has wiped out what could be up to half of the remaining population of the species, New Scientist reports. Officials in Kazakhstan say the disease has killed 85,000 of an estimated world population of 257,000 since about May 10, but experts say they've heard unofficial estimates closer to 120,000. The species—known for its distinctive tubular nose, the AP reports—numbered more than a million in the 1990s but has been in decline since, thanks in large part to poachers, and was already considered critically endangered before the latest die-off. "It's very dramatic and traumatic, with 100% mortality," the leader of an international team investigating the outbreak tells New Scientist. "I know of no example in history with this level of mortality, killing all the animals and all the calves." The team, which has been taking soil and vegetation samples, believes the mass deaths may have been caused by a bacterial infection or by a virus carried by mosquitoes, Smithsonian reports. Whatever the culprit, it has been able to cause a staggering death toll because the population's females all have their calves in the same week, allowing disease to spread quickly, New Scientist notes. (In better news for an endangered species, the US government says most humpback whale populations have rebounded.)
Sammanfatta denna artikel: Uppdatering 9 juni 2015: Mer än hälften av världens gåtfulla saigaantiloper – cirka 134 000 djur – har utplånats i Kazakstan på bara tre veckor. Den skyldige har identifierats som hemorragisk septikemi, orsakad av bakterien Pasteurella multocida, enligt Världsorganisationen för djurhälsa, som säger att utbrottet nu är över. Originalartikel, publicerad 27 maj 2015 Dödssiffran för ikoniska saigaantiloper i Centralasien har stigit till omkring 120 000, nästan hälften av världens återstående befolkning, enligt inofficiella uppskattningar. I dag har veterinärer och forskare som undersöker katastrofen hittills presenterat sina resultat för regeringstjänstemän i Kazakstan, där djuren håller på att dö. "Den nuvarande officiella siffran är 85 000, men vi hör inofficiella uppskattningar på över 100 000, och närmar sig 120 000", säger Aline Kühl-Stenzel i FN:s konvention om flyttande arter. Djuren började dö av en oidentifierad orsak omkring den 10 maj. Dödssiffran steg inom några dagar till 27.000, då den kazakiska regeringen bad om hjälp från konventets sekretariat. Ett team av veterinärer, under ledning av Richard Kock vid Royal Veterinary College i Hatfield i Storbritannien, flög ut på fredagen. "Det är mycket dramatiskt och traumatiskt, med 100 procent dödlighet", berättade Kock för New Scientist från Betpak-Dala i centrala Kazakstan. "Jag känner inte till något exempel i historien med denna dödlighetsnivå, som dödar alla djur och alla kalvar." Djuren dör genom svår diarré och andningssvårigheter. Trio of possibility Från vävnadsprover som tidigare samlats in av kazakiska forskare har Kock och kollegor minskat orsaken till tre möjligheter. En är hemolytisk septikemi, orsakad av bakterier som normalt är ofarliga, och som också dödar bufflar. En annan mindre trolig orsak är epizootisk hemorragisk sjukdom, en virussjukdom som överförs av myggor. "Vi måste göra fler tester för att utesluta det", säger Kock. Den andra möjligheten är toxinemi orsakad av klostridiabakterier. "Vi behöver alla labbtester för att kunna slutföras och en omfattande analys innan vi kan dra några säkra slutsatser." Orsaken till att så många djur dog på en gång hänger samman med att de lokala honorna alla kalvar inom en vecka, vilket ger idealiska förutsättningar för att sjukdomen ska spridas mellan djuren och deras kalvar. 2014 fanns det uppskattningsvis 200.000 djur i Betpak-Dala, med ytterligare 60.000 i andra regioner i Centralasien, ner från drygt en miljon saiga under 1990-talet. Om du vill återanvända något innehåll från New Scientist, antingen i tryck eller online, vänligen kontakta Syndikationsavdelningen först för tillstånd. New Scientist äger inte rättigheter till foton, men det finns en mängd olika licensalternativ tillgängliga för användning av artiklar och grafik vi äger upphovsrätten till. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Myndigheterna i Kazakstan säger att omkring en tredjedel av den hotade saigaantiloppopulationen i denna centralasiatiska nation har mystiskt dött av de senaste dagarna. Kazakstans jordbruksministerium sade i fredags att antalet saiga som har dött kan ha nått 85 000. Ministeriet säger att det misstänker att djuren, som är igenkännliga för sin distinkta pucklade nos, kan ha drabbats av en epidemi av pasteurellos orsakad av en bakterieinfektion. Myndigheterna säger att internationella veterinärexperter har flugits till Kazakstan för att studera andra möjliga orsaker till den katastrofala död-off. Antalet saiga rasade under 1990-talet till följd av tjuvjakt. Vid senaste kazakiska regeringsräkningen 2014 uppgick saigabefolkningen till 257 000. Saiga förekommer även i mindre antal i delar av Ryssland. Â°°
Summarize this article: Update June 9, 2015: More than half of the world's enigmatic saiga antelopes—about 134,000 animals—have been wiped out in Kazakhstan in just three weeks. The culprit has been identified as haemorrhagic septicaemia, caused by the bacterium Pasteurella multocida, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health, which says the outbreak is now over. Original article, published 27 May 2015 The death toll for iconic saiga antelopes in Central Asia has risen to around 120,000, nearly half of the world's remaining population, according to unofficial estimates. Today, vets and scientists investigating the disaster have so far presented their results to government officials in Kazakhstan, where animals are dying. "The current official figure is 85,000, but we hear unofficial estimates of over 100,000, approaching 120,000," says Aline Kühl-Stenzel of the United Nations Convention on Migratory Species. The animals began to die for an unidentified cause around May 10. The death toll rose within days to 27,000, when the Kazakh government asked for assistance from the convention secretariat. A team of vets, led by Richard Kock at Royal Veterinary College in Hatfield, United Kingdom, flew out on Friday. "It's very dramatic and traumatic, with 100 percent mortality," Chef told New Scientist from Betpak-Dala in central Kazakhstan. "I know of no example in history of this mortality rate, which kills all animals and all calves." The animals die from severe diarrhoea and difficulty breathing. Trio of possibility From tissue samples previously collected by Kazakh researchers, Chef and colleagues have reduced the cause of three possibilities. One is hemolytic septicaemia, caused by bacteria that are normally harmless, and which also kill buffaloes. Another less likely cause is epizootic haemorrhagic disease, a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes. "We need to do more tests to rule it out," says Chef. The other possibility is toxinemia caused by clostridia bacteria. "We need all lab tests to be completed and a comprehensive analysis before we can draw any sure conclusions." The reason why so many animals died at once is because the local females all calves within a week, which provides ideal conditions for the spread of the disease between the animals and their calves. In 2014, there were an estimated 200,000 animals in Betpak-Dala, with an additional 60,000 in other regions of Central Asia, down from just over a million saiga in the 1990s. If you want to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact Syndication Department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of license options available for the use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Authorities of Kazakhstan say that about a third of the threatened Saiga antelope population of this Central Asian nation has mysteriously died of the last few days. The Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan said on Friday that the number of saigas who have died may have reached 85,000. The ministry says it suspects that the animals, recognizable for their distinctive humped nose, may have suffered an epidemic of pasteurellos caused by a bacterial infection. Authorities say international veterinary experts have been flown to Kazakhstan to study other possible causes of the disastrous death-off. The number of saigas plummeted in the 1990s as a result of poaching. At the last Kazakh government census in 2014, the Saiga population was 257,000. Saiga is also found in smaller numbers in parts of Russia. <unk>
– Efter många tusen år i Centralasien har saigaantilopen haft ett fruktansvärt par decennier – och några förödande veckor. En mystisk sjukdom som orsakar svår diarré och andningssvårigheter har utplånat vad som kan vara upp till hälften av den återstående populationen av arten, rapporterar New Scientist. Tjänstemän i Kazakstan säger att sjukdomen har dödat 85 000 av en uppskattad världsbefolkning på 257 000 sedan omkring den 10 maj, men experter säger att de har hört inofficiella uppskattningar närmare 120 000. Arten – känd för sin distinkta rörformiga nos, rapporterar AP-nummer mer än en miljon under 1990-talet men har varit på tillbakagång sedan, till stor del tack vare tjuvskyttar, och ansågs redan kritiskt hotade innan den senaste avlidna. "Det är mycket dramatiskt och traumatiskt, med 100% dödlighet," säger ledaren för ett internationellt team som undersöker utbrottet till New Scientist. "Jag känner inte till något exempel i historien med denna dödlighetsnivå, som dödar alla djur och alla kalvar." Teamet, som har tagit jord- och vegetationsprover, tror att massdöden kan ha orsakats av en bakterieinfektion eller av ett virus som bärs av myggor, rapporterar Smithsonian. Oavsett vad den skyldige har kunnat orsaka en svindlande dödssiffra eftersom befolkningens honor alla har sina kalvar under samma vecka, vilket gör att sjukdomen snabbt kan spridas, konstaterar New Scientist. (Bättre nyheter för en utrotningshotad art säger den amerikanska regeringen att de flesta knölvalspopulationerna har återhämtat sig.)
“After many thousands of years in Central Asia, the saiga antelope has had a terrible couple of decades – and a few devastating weeks. A mysterious disease that causes severe diarrhea and breathing difficulties has wiped out what may be up to half the remaining population of the species, reports New Scientist. Officials in Kazakhstan say that the disease has killed 85,000 of an estimated world population of 257,000 since around May 10, but experts say they have heard unofficial estimates nearly 120,000. The species – known for its distinctive tubular snout, AP numbers report more than a million in the 1990s but have been in decline since, largely thanks to poachers, and were already considered critically threatened before the last deceased. "It's very dramatic and traumatic, with 100% mortality," says the leader of an international team investigating the outbreak to New Scientist. "I know of no example in history of this mortality rate, which kills all animals and all calves." The team, which has taken soil and vegetation samples, believes that mass death may have been caused by a bacterial infection or by a virus carried by mosquitoes, reports the Smithsonian. No matter what the culprit has been able to cause a staggering death toll because the females of the population all have their calves in the same week, allowing the disease to spread rapidly, states New Scientist. (Better news for an endangered species, the U.S. government says most humpback populations have recovered.)