Jason P. Barley

Brucella ceti Associated Pathology in the Testicle of a Harbour Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena)

Brucellosis is reported increasingly in marine mammals and the marine species of Brucella are capable of causing community acquired zoonotic infections in humans as well as abortion in cattle as a result of experimental infection. This case report describes pathology associated with an isolate of Brucella ceti that was successfully cultured from, and immunolabelled in, the testis and epididymis of an adult sexually mature free-living harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). This is the first report of such pathology in any species of cetacean, and suggests the potential for sexual transmission and/or sterility as sequelae to infection similar to those reported in terrestrial animals.

Isolation of Brucella species from a diseased atlanto-occipital joint of an Atlantic white-sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus acutus)

dehydrated through graded alcohols, embedded in paraffin wax, sectioned at 5 μm, mounted on glass microscope slides and stained with haematoxylin and eosin for histological examination. All remaining soft tissue was manually removed from the skull and atlas bone (National Museums of Scotland register number NMSZ2006.10) after immersion for several days in a saturated solution of commercially available biological washing powder (Persil; Unilever) maintained at 65°C. Gross postmortem examination revealed the animal to be freshly dead, with no evidence of bloating, although some postmortem predator damage was present and there was a single rake mark on the left flank. The carcase weighed 143·0 kg and was 240 cm long from the tip of the upper jaw to the tail notch, with a girth measurement immediately anterior to the dorsal fin of 118·0 cm. It was in good body condition, with dorsal, lateral and ventral midline blubber thicknesses immediately in front of the dorsal fin of 22 mm, 19 mm and 24 mm, respectively. Further examination showed the atlanto-occipital joint to be completely immobile and inseparable using normal techniques and reasonable force. No other joints appeared to be affected. A small number of plerocercoid cysts that were typical in appearance to Phyllobothrium delphini, although not definitively identified, were present in the subcutaneous blubber and testicular mesentery. The trachea contained bloodstained fluid and froth, and the lungs appeared severely oedematous and congested, with persistent rib indentations on the dorsal surfaces after removal from the carcase; there was no gross evidence of pneumonia. The liver was congested and all other organs examined appeared grossly normal. A profuse growth of Brucella species was recovered from the meninges adherent to the atlanto-occipital joint, together with a scant growth from the brain, and a single colony was recovered from the kidney. With the exception of a minor mixed growth of bacteria from the lung, all the other tissues examined showed no growth by 14 days. The isolate did not require increased carbon dioxide for growth and gave uninhibited primary growth on Farrell’s medium, characteristics typical of the proposed new species Brucella cetaceae for strains recovered from cetaceans (Cloeckaert and others 2001). Histological examination of the brain showed mild autolysis and a generalised non-suppurative meningoencephalitis as denoted by a lymphocytic inflammatory infiltrate in the meninges, which was severe in the region around the medulla oblongata and extended into dorsal aspects of the hindbrain in the form of thick perivascular cuffs (Fig 1). A focal non-suppurative choroiditis was also present, and there were small amounts of meningeal serum leakage. A lymphocytic-plasmacytic inflammatory infiltrate, predomin antly associated with blood vessels (especially veins), was present in the meninges adherent to the atlanto-occipital joint. The rest of the findings were consistent with a cetacean that was live*

Fatal mycotic encephalitis caused by Aspergillus fumigatus in a northern bottlenose whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus)

THE northern bottlenose whale ( Hyperoodon ampullatus ) is a deep-diving species found in the North Atlantic Ocean and some of its adjacent seas, occurring in mainly cold temperate to subarctic waters. It is purported to be the most extensively studied of the beaked whales owing to its long history

Encephalitis in a northern bottlenose whale.

SIR — We wish to report a case of fungal encephalitis due to Aspergillus fumigatus infection in a juvenile male northern bottlenose whale ( Hyperoodon ampullatus ) that stranded on the north-east coast of Scotland at North Kessock, Highland, in October 2006. The whale was sighted circling and in

Mycoplasma species isolated from harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) and a Sowerby's beaked whale (Mesoplodon bidens) stranded in Scottish waters.

Mycoplasma species were recovered from 10 cetacean carcasses that stranded around Scotland. Mycoplasma phocicerebrale was isolated from the lungs of three harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) as well as from the liver of one of these animals. Novel Mycoplasma spp. were isolated from the lungs of five additional harbor porpoises and the kidney of another. In addition an isolate closely related to Mycoplasma species 13CL was obtained from the kidney of a Sowerby’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon bidens). The role of these Mycoplasma species in the disease of cetaceans, their host specificity, diversity, and any relation to cetacean strandings are unknown.

The First Report of Disease in a Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus)

Few diseases have been reported in any species of shark and none in the basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) despite the latter being the subject of targeted hunting for over two centuries. This is the first report to describe the clinical signs and gross and microscopical pathology in a diseased basking shark that was live-stranded on the east coast of Scotland. Pyogranulomatous meningoencephalitis was present together with multifocal, predominantly non-suppurative, myocarditis with myocyte necrosis, oedema and haemorrhage. Additionally, there was full thickness ulcerative and fibrinonecrotizing dermatitis with underlying granulomatous inflammation. The aetiology could not be determined, but the lesions were suggestive of an infectious process, possibly bacterial.

A note on the unprecedented strandings of 56 deep-diving whales along the UK and Irish coast

In the first seven months of 2008, eighteen Cuviers beaked whales ( Ziphius cavirostris ), four Sowerbys beaked whales ( Mesoplodon bidens ), five unidentified beaked whales and twenty-nine long-finned pilot whales ( Globicephala melas ) were reported stranded in the UK and Ireland. Decomposition of those animals investigated puts the predicted time of death at mid-January. Concerns that an unusual mortality event had taken place prompted further investigations. Most carcasses were too decomposed for necropsy. A summary of findings is presented here. Although the initial stranding of five Cuviers beaked whales in Scotland shared some similarities with atypical mass stranding events linked in time and space to mid-frequency naval sonars, there were two important differences with the remaining strandings during this period. First, the geographical range of the event was very wide and second, the strandings occurred over a prolonged period of several months. Both of these factors could be related to the fact that the mortalities occurred offshore and the carcasses drifted ashore. The cause(s) of this high number of strandings of mixed offshore cetacean species during this period remain undetermined.

Infection due to Mycobacterium avium subsp. avium in a Free-ranging Common Seal (Phoca vitulina) in Scotland

We describe the first reported case of mycobacterial infection in a free-ranging pinniped in the Northern Hemisphere. Acid-fast bacteria were demonstrated histologically in the liver of an adult female common seal (Phoca vitulina), and Mycobacterium avium subsp. avium was cultured from the liver.

Comparison of total-mixed-ration and feed-to-yield strategies on blood profiles and dairy cow health

Seventy-two Holstein-Friesian dairy cows were offered the same amount of concentrates over the first 140 days of lactation, by either a ‘total-mixed-ration’ or a ‘feed-to-yield’ strategy. The effects on blood profiles and cow health were examined. Cows on total-mixed-ration were offered a mixed ration comprising grass silage and concentrates (50:50 dry matter basis). Cows on feed-to-yield were offered a basal mixed ration (grass silage plus 6 kg concentrates/cow/day) plus additional concentrates via an out-of-parlour feeding system, calculated according to each individual cow’s milk yield during the previous week. Cows on total-mixed-ration had a higher mean haemoglobin, packed cell volume and lymphocyte percentage. Concentrate allocation strategy had no effect on serum haptoglobin concentrations, interferon-gamma production of pokeweed mitogen-stimulated whole blood culture, the incidence of clinical or subclinical mastitis, lameness, respiratory or digestive problems and no strong relationships were identified between production parameters with serum metabolites, inflammatory and immune measures. This study demonstrates small physiological differences in metabolic parameters, and no differences in inflammatory or immune parameters, when allocating concentrates by total-mixed-ration or feed-to-yield.