| Autor: |
Rivera-Pérez CI; Center for Conservation Medicine and Ecosystem Health, Biomedical Sciences, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis.; Caribbean Manatee Conservation Center, Inter American University of Puerto Rico, 500 Carr. Dr. John Will Harris, Bayamón, Puerto Rico 00957., Mignucci-Giannoni AA; Center for Conservation Medicine and Ecosystem Health, Biomedical Sciences, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis.; Caribbean Manatee Conservation Center, Inter American University of Puerto Rico, 500 Carr. Dr. John Will Harris, Bayamón, Puerto Rico 00957., Freeman MA; Center for Conservation Medicine and Ecosystem Health, Biomedical Sciences, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis., Orcera-Iglesias JM; Caribbean Manatee Conservation Center, Inter American University of Puerto Rico, 500 Carr. Dr. John Will Harris, Bayamón, Puerto Rico 00957., Cabrias-Contreras LJ; Caribbean Manatee Conservation Center, Inter American University of Puerto Rico, 500 Carr. Dr. John Will Harris, Bayamón, Puerto Rico 00957., Dennis MM; Center for Conservation Medicine and Ecosystem Health, Biomedical Sciences, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis.; Department of Biomedical and Diagnostic Sciences, University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA. |
| Abstrakt: |
Five adult Greater Caribbean manatees Trichechus manatus manatus were found stranded on various coasts of Puerto Rico; 2 stranded alive and 3 stranded dead. Clinical signs observed in live-stranded manatees included emaciation, weakness, bradypnea, arrhythmia, and nasal mucus discharge. Postmortem examinations revealed serosanguinous, mucohemorrhagic, or suppurative exudate in bronchi associated with luminal adult Pulmonicola cochleotrema (range: 18-182 trematodes), accompanied by pulmonary abscesses in 2 cases. Histologically, we observed eosinophilic bronchopneumonia of varying severity (n = 4) and chronic erosive to eosinophilic tracheobronchitis (n = 4) with squamous metaplasia (n = 3) and intralesional trematodes and eggs. The trematode identity was confirmed and compared through molecular analysis for the amplified 18S rDNA fragment. Comorbidities included enteric chiorchosis (n = 5), gastric heterocheilosis (n = 4), malnutrition (n = 4), trauma related to watercraft collision (n = 3), systemic toxoplasmosis (n = 1), acute bacterial peritonitis (n = 1), and interstitial nephritis (n = 1), suggesting that immunosuppression was a predisposing factor for lower respiratory tract pulmonicolosis. Based on lesion severity, clinical signs, and the presence and absence of other findings to explain death, this condition was considered the primary cause of death in 1 manatee, a contributory cause of death in 3 manatees, and an incidental finding in 1 individual. These clinicopathological descriptions will facilitate the diagnosis and clinical management of pulmonicolosis in T. manatus, a species endangered with extinction. |
