A female Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and her calf were found beached on Picnic Island in Tampa Bay, Florida, USA. Despite therapy the animals died. Necropsy revealed severe pneumonia and lymphadenopathy in the mother and the calf, gastric ulcers and infection with the stomach digenean Braunina cordiformis in the mother, and a large, pale liver in the calf. Toxoplasma gondii was identified by light and electron microscopy and by immunohistochemistry in tissues of both animals. Toxoplasma gondii was associated with interstitial pneumonia, necrotizing adrenalitis, and cardiac myonecrosis in the mother and with lymphoid necrosis in both dolphins. The source of infection and the relationship to the recent dolphin beachings along the eastern seacoast of North America are unknown. This is the first report of toxoplasmosis in cetaceans.
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS|
July 01 1990
Toxoplasmosis in Atlantic Bottle-Nosed Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)
W. Inskeep, II;
W. Inskeep, II
1 Department of Veterinary Pathology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, D.C. 20306, USA
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C. H. Gardiner;
C. H. Gardiner
1 Department of Veterinary Pathology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, D.C. 20306, USA
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R. K. Harris;
R. K. Harris
1 Department of Veterinary Pathology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, D.C. 20306, USA
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J. P. Dubey;
J. P. Dubey
2 Zoonotic Diseases Laboratory, Livestock and Poultry Sciences Institute, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, BARC-E, Beltsville, Maryland 20705, USA
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R. T. Goldston
R. T. Goldston
3 Animal Hospital of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Florida 33702, USA
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J Wildl Dis (1990) 26 (3): 377–382.
Article history
Received:
July 17 1989
Citation
W. Inskeep, C. H. Gardiner, R. K. Harris, J. P. Dubey, R. T. Goldston; Toxoplasmosis in Atlantic Bottle-Nosed Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). J Wildl Dis 1 July 1990; 26 (3): 377–382. doi: https://doi.org/10.7589/0090-3558-26.3.377
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