This myserious disease outbreak was first noticed last summer. When about 60 seals were found dead and another 75 diseased, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Most of the affected seals are ringed seals, but diseased ribbon, bearded and spotted seals were also found. The nine polar bears from Beaufort Sea region near Barrow were found with some hair loss (patchy hair loss) and oozing sores on their skin. This is similar to how the disease affected the seals and walruses. But unlike those seals and walruses, the nine polar bears did not die, they were healthy says Tony DeGange the chief of the biology office for the USGS's Alaska Science Center. These nine polar bears were among the 33 that biologists have captured and sampled while doing routine studies on the Arctic coastline.
It is good to know that the polar bears that are one of the many animals that are going extinct are not dying from this mysterious disease, but that still brings the question of what is the cause and is it affecting other animal in the Arctic. For example, say some fisherman catch fish from the Arctic, and those fish are affected with the disease. What will the affects happen to a human that eats the animal. I know that is why we have science to go and do that kind of research so we don't kill people by what they eat. But in this article they are not giving much though on what is the disease, and any leads to where it could be coming from like a source.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/06/us-polarbears-idUSBRE8350MX20120406
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