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Emerging and Re-emerging Diseases in Marine Mammals

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A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Aquatic Animals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 December 2022) | Viewed by 7955

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Consuelo Rubio-Guerri

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Guest Editor

Pharmacy Department, Facultad de CC Salud, UCH-CEU University, 46113 Alfara del Patriarca, Spain
Interests: animal health; molecular virology; SARS-CoV-2; morbillivirus; marine mammals
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The growing scientific, ecological and conservation interests in marine mammals deem it desirable to deal with emerging or re-emerging diseases that affect these animals. The human population growth with increasing anthropogenic interference on wilderness, the rapid climate change and the intensive industrialization of previously fewer industrial countries appear likely predisposing factors for the appearance, in these animals, of novel pathologic processes or for the reappearance of old ones. Although infectious diseases provide paradigmatic examples of emergence or re-emergence (for example, epidemic outbreaks of Morbillivirus in seals and cetaceans), an increase in tumor processes in marine mammals has also been noted, as well as growing evidence of increased toxic events due to human-produced toxins or to cyanobacterial blooms. The COVID-19 pandemic, with viral presence in wastewaters, and the concept of One Health deem it desirable to rethink the possible connections between animal and human infectious agents, including in this equation marine mammals. The existence of a substantial number of marine mammals under human care with high interaction with humans and their pets also raises the possibility of particular diseases in humanized marine mammals. All of this has prompted the journal “Animals” to call for a Special Issue on “Emerging and Re-Emerging Diseases in Marine Mammals”. This letter is an invitation to contribute articles to this Issue. Contributions can be in any of the article formats supported by this journal, particularly (but not only) in the form of research articles, reviews and viewpoints.

Dr. Consuelo Rubio-Guerri
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

marine mammals
cetaceans
pinnipeds
emerging diseases
viral diseases
bacterial diseases
fungal diseases
contaminants

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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10 pages, 265 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Serological Detection of Marine Origin Brucella Exposure in Two Alaska Beluga Stocks

by Laura A. Thompson, Caroline E. C. Goertz, Lori T. Quakenbush, Kathy Burek Huntington, Robert S. Suydam, Raphaela Stimmelmayr and Tracy A. Romano

Animals 2022, 12(15), 1932; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12151932 - 29 Jul 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1646

Abstract

Among emerging threats to the Arctic is the introduction, spread, or resurgence of disease. Marine brucellosis is an emerging disease concern among free-ranging cetaceans and is less well-studied than terrestrial forms. To investigate marine-origin Brucella sp. exposure in two beluga stocks in Alaska, USA, this study used serological status as well as real-time polymerase chain reaction (rtPCR) and bacterial culture. In total, 55 live-captured–released belugas were tested for Brucella exposure in Bristol Bay (2008–2016) and 112 (8 live-captured; 104 subsistence-harvested) whales were tested in the eastern Chukchi Sea (2007–2017). In total, 73% percent of Bristol Bay live captures, 50% of Chukchi Sea live captures, and 66% of Chukchi Sea harvested belugas were positive on serology. Only 10 of 69 seropositive belugas were rtPCR positive in at least one tissue. Only one seropositive animal was PCR positive in both the spleen and mesenteric lymph node. All animals tested were culture negative. The high prevalence of seropositivity detected suggests widespread exposure in both stocks, however, the low level of rtPCR and culture positive results suggests clinical brucellosis was not prevalent in the belugas surveyed. Continued detection of Brucella exposure supports the need for long-term monitoring of these and other beluga populations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging and Re-emerging Diseases in Marine Mammals)

21 pages, 3337 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Molecular Characterization of Herpesviral Encephalitis in Cetaceans: Correlation with Histopathological and Immunohistochemical Findings

by Eva Sierra, Antonio Fernández, Carolina Fernández-Maldonado, Simona Sacchini, Idaira Felipe-Jiménez, Simone Segura-Göthlin, Ana Colom-Rivero, Nakita Câmara, Raquel Puig-Lozano, Anna Maria Rambaldi, Cristian Suárez-Santana and Manuel Arbelo

Animals 2022, 12(9), 1149; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12091149 - 29 Apr 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2943

Abstract

Herpesviruses are causative agents of meningitis and encephalitis in cetaceans, which are among the main leading known natural causes of death in these species. Brain samples from 103 stranded cetaceans were retrospectively screened for the presence of herpesvirus DNA in the brain. Molecular detection of Cetacean Morbillivirus was performed in HV positive brain cases. Histopathologic evaluation of brain samples included the presence or absence of the following findings (n = 7): meningitis, perivascular cuffings, microgliosis, intranuclear inclusion bodies, malacia, neuronal necrosis and neurophagic nodules, and haemorrhages. Histological evidence of the involvement of other etiological agents led to complementary analysis. We detected the presence of alpha and gamma-HVs in 12 out of 103 (11.6%) brain samples from stranded cetaceans of five different species: one bottlenose dolphin, six striped dolphins, three Atlantic spotted dolphins, one Cuvier’s beaked whale, and one common dolphin. Pathogenic factors such as viral strain, age, sex, and the presence of co-infections were analysed and correlated with the brain histopathological findings in each case. Herpesvirus was more prevalent in males, juveniles, and calves and a 41.6% incidence of co-infections in the brain was detected in our study: three with Dolphin Morbillivirus, one with Staphilococcus aureus septicaemia and one with Brucella spp. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging and Re-emerging Diseases in Marine Mammals)

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9 pages, 3481 KiB

Open AccessCase Report

Fatal Streptococcus iniae Infection in a Juvenile Free-Ranging Short-Beaked Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis)

by Rebecca Souter, Anne-Lise Chaber, Ken Lee, Aaron Machado, Jia Lam and Lucy Woolford

Animals 2021, 11(11), 3123; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11113123 - 31 Oct 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2471

Abstract

Streptococcus iniae (S. iniae) is a significant aquatic pathogen of farmed fish species, important zoonotic pathogen, and reported cause of disease in captive Amazon River dolphins (Inia geoffrensis) and a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). Here we report S. iniae as the cause of subcutaneous abscesses, sepsis and mortality in a juvenile free-ranging short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) found deceased on a metropolitan Australian beach. Body surfaces were covered by multifocal, depressed, deep, irregular cutaneous ulcerations, which microscopically were characterised by ruptured subcutaneous abscesses with intralesional cocci. Routine microbiological investigations revealed a heavy growth of beta-haemolytic Streptococcus sp. identified as Streptococcus iniae in skin lesions as well as from heart blood, the latter supportive of sepsis. Tissues were negative for cetacean morbillivirus and no other disease processes were identified. S. iniae has not been reported in free-ranging marine mammals, nor in Australian delphinids, previously. More notably a pathogen of captive animals, this case report identifies S. iniae as a pathogen of wild dolphins also. In addition to expanding the host reservoir of a significant zoonotic pathogen, determining the source of infection as well as possible consequences for other marine mammals and wild and intensive fish stocks warrants further investigations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging and Re-emerging Diseases in Marine Mammals)

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