Lung disease is common among wild and managed populations of bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus. The purpose of the study was to apply standardized techniques to the ultrasound evaluation of dolphin lungs, and to identify normal and abnormal sonographic findings associated with pleuropulmonary diseases. During a 5 yr period (2005 to 2010), 498 non-cardiac thoracic ultrasound exams were performed on bottlenose dolphins at the Navy Marine Mammal Program in San Diego, California, USA. Exams were conducted as part of routine physical exams, diagnostic workups, and disease monitoring. In the majority of routine exams, no abnormal pleural or pulmonary findings were detected with ultrasound. Abnormal findings were typically detected during non-routine exams to identify and track disease progression or resolution; therefore, abnormal results are overrepresented in the study. In order of decreasing prevalence, abnormal sonographic findings included evidence of alveolar-interstitial syndrome, pleural effusion, pulmonary masses, and pulmonary consolidation. Of these findings, alveolar-interstitial syndrome was generally nonspecific as it represented several possible disease states. Pairing ultrasound findings with clinical signs was critical to determine relevance. Pleural effusion, pulmonary masses, and pulmonary consolidation were relatively straightforward to diagnose and interpret. Further diagnostics were performed to obtain definitive diagnoses when appropriate, specifically ultrasound-guided thoracocentesis, fine needle aspirates, and lung biopsies, as well as radiographs and computed tomography (CT) exams. Occasionally, post mortem gross necropsy and histo pathology data were available to provide confirmation of diagnoses. Thoracic ultrasound was determined to be a valuable diagnostic tool for detecting pleural and pulmonary diseases in dolphins. KEY WORDS: Cetacean · Diagnostic imaging · Lung disease · Pulmonary Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherDis Aquat Org 101: [243][244][245][246][247][248][249][250][251][252][253][254][255] 2012 gani 2011, Moore & Copel 2011, Stefanidis et al. 2011. General descriptions of dolphin thoracic ultrasound exams have been published in marine mammal textbooks (Stone 1990, Brook et al. 2001. However, there are currently no peer-reviewed publications on thoracic ultrasound techniques or findings in dolphins.A retrospective epidemiologic analysis of lung histopathology from the past 30 yr (1980 to 2010) of US Navy Marine Mammal Program data showed that the most common pulmonary pathology was pneumonia (Venn-Watson et al. 2012), which is similar to findings of wild dolphin necropsies (Baker 1992, Di Guardo et al. 1995, Cornaglia et al. 2000, Bogomolni et al. 2010. In both wild and managed dolphins, bacterial pneumonias have been reported often (Cusick & Bullock 1973, Sweeney & Ridgway 1975, Diamond et al. 1979, Tangredi & Medway 1980, Howard et al. 1983, Schulman et al. 1997, Miller et al. 1999, Dunn et al. 2001, Makara et al...

Although the cause of the iron overload and high serum aminotransferase activities remained unknown, phlebotomy treatment successfully resolved the clinicopathologic abnormalities, supporting a role of iron overload in the hepatopathy of the 3 dolphins.

Francisella noatunensis is an emerging pathogen of fish that has been isolated from several cultured species worldwide. Here presented is a case involving several hundred marine grunts that were caught near the Florida Keys for display in public aquaria. These fish were maintained in a recirculating system where they began to experience mortalities approximately two weeks post-stocking. Postmortem examination revealed disseminated systemic granulomatous disease most severely affecting spleen and kidney. Splenic and renal tissue homogenates inoculated in modified Thayer Martin agar media yielded colonies consistent with F. noatunensis 4 days post inoculation. Bacterial colonies and tissues were confirmed positive after real-time PCR amplification of the intracellular growth loci gene (iglC) specific for F. noatunensis subspecies orientalis. Consequently, multiple novel host species for this pathogen were identified, including the French grunt (Haemulon flavolineatum) and the Caesar grunt (Haemulon carbonarium).

A recently deceased juvenile male bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) was found floating in the Gulf of Mexico, off Sand Key in Clearwater, Florida. At autopsy, we identified pneumonia and a focus of malacia in the right cerebrum. Cytologic evaluation of tissue imprints from the right cerebrum revealed fungal hyphae. Fungal cultures of the lung and brain yielded Aspergillus fumigatus, which was confirmed by amplification of a portion of the fungal nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 2 region sequence. Microscopic pulmonary lesions of bronchiolar epithelial cell syncytia with intracytoplasmic and intranuclear inclusions within bronchiolar epithelial cells were suggestive of Cetacean morbillivirus (CeMV) infection. The occurrence of CeMV infection was supported by positive immunohistochemical staining for morbillivirus antigen. CeMV detection was confirmed by amplification and sequencing a portion of the morbilliviral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase gene from lung tissue. This case provides CeMV sequence data available from the Gulf of Mexico and underscores the need for genomic sequencing across diverse host, temporospatial, and population (i.e., single animal vs. mass mortality events) scales to improve our understanding of these globally emerging pathogens.