Fatal Disseminated Toxoplasma gondii Infection in a Captive Harbour Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena)

Herder, Vanessa; Velde, N. van de; Kristensen, Jakob; Elk, Cornelis van; Peters, Martin C.; Kilwinski, Jochen; Schares, Gereon; Siebert, Ursula; Wohlsein, P.

doi:10.1016/j.jcpa.2015.08.004

Cited by 19 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Similarly, our case demonstrated inflammation in the brain, as well as in other organ systems including the liver, heart, lung, lymph nodes and spleen. However, when compared to findings in terrestrial species and other marine mammals such as pinnipeds, cetaceans, and sea otters, inflammation present in the manatee brain was not as severe (Daily 2001, Thomas et al 2007, Carlson-Bremer et al 2015, Herder et al 2015. The decreased inflammation noted in the cerebrum may be a result of sampling, since inflammatory lesions and protozoal cysts were (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Disseminated toxoplasmosis Toxoplasma gondii in a wild Florida manatee Trichechus manatus latirostris and seroprevalence in two wild populations

Smith

Waltzek²,

Rotstein³

et al. 2016

Dis. Aquat. Org.

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Marine mammals are important indicators for ecosystem health and serve as sentinel species for infectious agents including zoonoses. Histological examination of tissues from a stranded Florida manatee Trichechus manatus latirostris revealed protozoal cysts in the cerebrum and intrahistiocytic tachyzoites in the liver and caudal mesenteric lymph node. Disseminated Toxoplasma gondii infection was confirmed by immunohistochemistry and sequencing of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region of formalin-fixed tissues. The lack of baseline information on Florida manatees' exposure to this pathogen prompted a study into the seroprevalence of T. gondii in 2 separate geographic habitats in Florida, USA, during the winters from 2011−2014. Serum was collected during routine health assessments of 44 apparently healthy manatees from Crystal River (n = 26) on the west central coast of Florida and Brevard County (n = 18) on the east coast of Florida. Serum was screened for detection of T. gondii immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies via the modified agglutination test. Two animals from Crystal River from 2011 and 2012 (7.7%) and one animal from Brevard County from 2011 (5.6%) tested positive for T. gondii antibodies. Overall seroprevalence for T. gondii was low in the 2 sampled populations and may reflect a low seroprevalence or animal susceptibility. However, continued monitoring of this pathogen in aquatic ecosystems is warranted due to both possible anthropogenic sources and zoonotic potential.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Disseminated toxoplasmosis Toxoplasma gondii in a wild Florida manatee Trichechus manatus latirostris and seroprevalence in two wild populations

Smith

Waltzek²,

Rotstein³

et al. 2016

Dis. Aquat. Org.

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“…Kirkwood et al [15] observed brain lesions in 2% of the animals and Jauniaux et al [14] reported brain lesions in 4% of the animals. In previous studies, carcinoma [42], Toxoplasma [43, 44], and A. fumigatus [32] have been diagnosed as causes of brain lesions. In comparison, we observed A. fumigatus or Aspergillus sp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical, pathological, and laboratory diagnoses of diseases of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena), live stranded on the Dutch and adjacent coasts from 2003 to 2016

Elk

Bildt

Run

et al. 2019

Vet Res

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Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the North Sea live in an environment heavily impacted by humans, the consequences of which are a concern for their health. Autopsies carried out on stranded harbour porpoises provide an opportunity to assess health problems in this species. We performed 61 autopsies on live-stranded harbour porpoises, which died following admission to a rehabilitation centre between 2003 and 2016. The animals had stranded on the Dutch (n = 52) and adjacent coasts of Belgium (n = 2) and Germany (n = 7). We assigned probable causes for stranding based on clinical and pathological criteria. Cause of stranding was associated in the majority of cases with pathologies in multiple organs (n = 29) compared to animals with pathologies in a single organ (n = 18). Our results show that the three most probable causes of stranding were pneumonia (n = 35), separation of calves from their mother (n = 10), and aspergillosis (n = 9). Pneumonia as a consequence of pulmonary nematode infection occurred in 19 animals. Pneumonia was significantly associated with infection with Pseudalius inflexus, Halocercus sp., and Torynurus convolutus but not with Stenurus minor infection. Half of the bacterial pneumonias (6/12) could not be associated with nematode infection. Conclusions from this study are that aspergillosis is an important probable cause for stranding, while parasitic infection is not a necessary prerequisite for bacterial pneumonia, and approximately half of the animals (29/61) probably stranded due to multiple causes. An important implication of the observed high prevalence of aspergillosis is that these harbour porpoises suffered from reduced immunocompetence.

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“…Infection with T. gondii in marine mammals may result in clinical disease (Carlson-Bremer et al, 2015;Mikaelian et al, 2000;Van Bressem et al, 2009). This has been clearly demonstrated in California sea otters (Euhydra lutris nereis) ), Hector's dolphins (Cephalorhynchus hectori) (Roe et al, 2013) and harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) (Herder et al, 2015). T. gondii clinical disease has also been recorded with co-infections of Brucella ceti, and Listeria monocytogenes in striped dolphins (Stenella Table 6 Agreement between results in serological testing of long-finned pilot whale, Risso's dolphin, short-beaked common dolphin and white-beaked dolphin samples.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Toxoplasma gondii in stranded marine mammals from the North Sea and Eastern Atlantic Ocean: Findings and diagnostic difficulties

Velde

Devleesschauwer

Leopold³

et al. 2016

Veterinary Parasitology

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a b s t r a c tThe occurrence of the zoonotic protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii in marine mammals remains a poorly understood phenomenon. In this study, samples from 589 marine mammal species and 34 European otters (Lutra lutra), stranded on the coasts of Scotland, Belgium, France, The Netherlands and Germany, were tested for the presence of T. gondii. Brain samples were analysed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for detection of parasite DNA. Blood and muscle fluid samples were tested for specific antibodies using a modified agglutination test (MAT), a commercial multi-species enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and an immunofluorescence assay (IFA). Out of 193 animals tested by PCR, only two harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) cerebrum samples, obtained from animals stranded on the Dutch coast, tested positive. The serological results showed a wide variation depending on the test used. Using a cut-off value of 1/40 dilution in MAT, 141 out of 292 animals (41%) were positive. Using IFA, 30 out of 244 tested samples (12%) were positive at a 1/50 dilution. The commercial ELISA yielded 7% positives with a cut-off of the sample-to-positive (S/P) ratio ≥ 50; and 12% when the cut-off was set at S/P ratio ≥ 20. The high number of positives in MAT may be an overestimation due to the high degree of haemolysis of the samples and/or the presence of lipids. The ELISA results could be an underestimation due to the use of a multispecies conjugate. Our results confirm the presence of T. gondii in marine mammals in The Netherlands and show exposure to the parasite in both the North Sea and the Eastern Atlantic Ocean. We also highlight the limitations of the tests used to diagnose T. gondii in stranded marine mammals.

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Fatal Disseminated Toxoplasma gondii Infection in a Captive Harbour Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena)

Cited by 19 publications

References 31 publications

Disseminated toxoplasmosis Toxoplasma gondii in a wild Florida manatee Trichechus manatus latirostris and seroprevalence in two wild populations

Disseminated toxoplasmosis Toxoplasma gondii in a wild Florida manatee Trichechus manatus latirostris and seroprevalence in two wild populations

Clinical, pathological, and laboratory diagnoses of diseases of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena), live stranded on the Dutch and adjacent coasts from 2003 to 2016

Toxoplasma gondii in stranded marine mammals from the North Sea and Eastern Atlantic Ocean: Findings and diagnostic difficulties

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