Avian Cholera in a Southern Giant Petrel (Macronectes giganteus) from Antarctica

Abstract

A southern giant petrel (Macronectes giganteus) was found dead at Potter Peninsula, King George Island, South Shetland, Antarctica. The adult male was discovered approximately 48 hr after death. Macroscopic and microscopic lesions were compatible with avian cholera and the bacterium Pasteurella multocida subsp. gallicida, serotype A1 was isolated from lung, heart, liver, pericardial sac, and air sacs. In addition, Escherichia coli was isolated from pericardial sac and air sacs. This is the first known report of avian cholera in a southern giant petrel in Antarctica.

Infectious diseases of Antarctic penguins: current status and future threats

“…These efforts established a solid and valuable baseline for this region but are now almost 40 years old. Since that time only Argentina's Antarctic program (Instituto Antártico Argentino) has conducted investigations that approach the scale of the earlier Macquarie Island studies, including several mortality event investigations (Leotta et al 2003(Leotta et al , 2006(Leotta et al , 2009Vigo et al 2011). Outside of these efforts we have an uneven understanding of the distribution of infectious diseases in Antarctic penguin species and their significance.…”

“…Avian cholera outbreaks occurred over two consecutive seasons at Hope Bay/Esperanza in 2000 and 2001, affecting multiple species of seabirds (Leotta et al 2006). Furthermore, an isolate of P. multocida recovered from a southern giant petrel that had died in the South Shetland Islands in 2000 was identical to the strains recovered at Hope Bay/Esperanza (Leotta et al 2003). It was believed to have originated from the same, though unknown, source (Leotta et al 2006).…”

A Pelagic Outbreak of Avian Cholera in North American Gulls: Scavenging as a Primary Mechanism for Transmission?

“…There are a few reports of outbreaks primarily involving scavenging species (Kaschula and Truter 1951;Parmelee et al 1979;Leotta et al 2003), but it is unclear what the primary mode of transmission was in these cases. In this outbreak, gulls and other scavenging species were primarily affected, and scavenging is a proposed likely mechanism for the transmission, perpetuation, and spread of this disease.…”

“…Avian cholera has affected several species of offshore seabird breeding colonies, including Amsterdam Albatross (Diomedea amsterdamensis) and Yellow-nosed Albatross (Thalassarche chlororhynchos; Weimerskirch 2004), Cape Cormorants (Phalacrocorax capensis; Waller and Underhill 2007), Common Murres (Uria aalgae; Osterblom et al 2004), Adelie Pengins (Pygoscelis adeliae), Skuas (Stercorarius spp. ), Kelp Gulls (Larus dominicanus; Leotta et al 2006), and one Southern Giant Petrel (Macronectes gigantus; Leotta et al 2003). Marine birds are also affected outside the breeding season, but this is infrequent (Christensen et al 1997;Bodenstein et al 2015).…”

Sphenisciformes, Gaviiformes, Podicipediformes, Procellariiformes, and Pelecaniformes

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