Bartonellaspp. Exposure in Northern and Southern Sea Otters in Alaska and California

Autor: Barbara A. Byrne, Melissa A. Miller, Kathleen A. Burek-Huntington, Verena A. Gill, Sebastian E. Carrasco, Bruno B Chomel, Tracey Goldstein, Angela M. Doroff, Rickie W. Kasten, Jonna A. K. Mazet
Rok vydání: 2014
Předmět:
Zdroj: Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases. 14:831-837
ISSN: 1557-7759
1530-3667
DOI: 10.1089/vbz.2014.1612
Popis: Since 2002, an increased number of northern sea otters (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) from southcentral Alaska have been reported to be dying due to endocarditis and/or septicemia with infection by Streptococcus infantarius subsp. coli. Bartonella spp. DNA was also detected in northern sea otters as part of mortality investigations during this unusual mortality event (UME) in Kachemak Bay, Alaska. To evaluate the extent of exposure to Bartonella spp. in sea otters, sera collected from necropsied and live-captured northern sea otters, as well as necropsied southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) unaffected by the UME, were analyzed using an immunofluorescent antibody assay. Antibodies against Bartonella spp. were detected in sera from 50% of necropsied and 34% of presumed healthy, live-captured northern sea otters and in 16% of necropsied southern sea otters. The majority of sea otters with reactive sera were seropositive for B. washoensis, with antibody titers ranging from 1:64 to 1:256. Bartonella spp. antibodies were especially common in adult northern sea otters, both free-living (49%) and necropsied (62%). Adult stranded northern sea otters that died from infectious causes, such as opportunistic bacterial infections, were 27 times more likely to be Bartonella seropositive than adult stranded northern sea otters that died from noninfectious causes (p
Databáze: OpenAIRE