Lacaziosis and lacaziosis-like prevalence among wild, common bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus from the west coast of Florida, USA

Abstract

Lacaziosis (lobomycosis; Lacazia loboi) is a fungal skin disease that naturally occurs only in humans and dolphins. The first reported case of lacaziosis in a bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus occurred in 1970 in Sarasota Bay, Florida, USA, and subsequent photo-ID monitoring of the Sarasota Bay dolphin population has revealed persistence of the disease. The objectives of this study were to estimate lacaziosis prevalence (P) in 2 bottlenose dolphin populations on the west coast of Florida (Sarasota Bay and Charlotte Harbor) and compare disease occurrence to other published estimates of lacaziosis in dolphin populations across the globe. Historic photographic records of dolphins captured and released for health assessment purposes (Sarasota Bay) and photo-ID studies (Charlotte Harbor) were screened for evidence of lesions consistent with lacaziosis. Health assessment data revealed a prevalence of lacaziosis in the Sarasota Bay bottlenose dolphin population between 2 and 3%, and analyses of photo-ID data provided a lacaziosis-like prevalence estimate of 2% for Charlotte Harbor dolphins. With the exception of lacaziosis prevalence estimates for dolphins inhabiting the Indian River Lagoon (P = 0.068; P = 0.12), no statistically significant differences were seen among Sarasota Bay, Charlotte Harbor, and other published estimates. Although lacaziosis is a rare disease among these dolphin populations, studies that assess disease burden among different populations can assist with the surveillance of this zoonotic pathogen. KEY WORDS: Lacaziosis · Lobomycosis · Bottlenose dolphin · Tursiops truncatus · Sarasota Bay · Charlotte HarborResale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher Dis Aquat Org 95: [49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56] 2011 (Kiszka et al. 2009), France (Symmers 1983, and along the Gulf of Mexico coast (Migaki et al. 1971) and Atlantic coast (Caldwell et al. 1975) of the USA. Recently, lacaziosis has been discovered in historically naïve dolphin populations, suggesting an emergence of the disease or possible changes in host susceptibility, ranging patterns, or pathogen ecology (Rotstein et al. 2009).Published estimates of LD and LLD prevalence among different dolphin populations range between 1.6 and 33% (Van Bressem et al. 2007), and methods used to derive these estimates include visual analyses of photographs from photo-ID surveys (Van Bressem et al. 2007), histological analyses of biopsies from capture-release health assessment projects (Reif et al. 2006) and stranding investigations (Durden et al. 2009) (Table 1). Bottlenose dolphin photo-ID and capturerelease health assessment methods have been previously described (Würsig & Jefferson 1990, Wells et al. 2004. Although photo-ID data is not completely sensitive to the detection of lacaziosis (Murdoch et al. 2008) and capture-release projects can be laborious and expensive, if conducted over a sufficient period of time both sampling methods can provide a robust and longitudinal photographic record for individual...

Skin Lesions on Common Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) from Three Sites in the Northwest Atlantic, USA

“…Although limited for determining skin disease causes, photo-id data provide a relatively inexpensive and non-invasive means of assessing body and skin condition [13], as well as lesion progression, recurrence, or resolution [9], [14], [15] for free-ranging marine mammal populations. Other studies have relied on by-catch or stranding data [1], [4], [5], [9], [16], [17], or capture-release health assessment data [3], [18], [19] to estimate disease burden in wild populations; however, these methods can be limited by small sample sizes or in the case of stranding data, biased towards individuals with compromised health [20].…”

Lacaziosis-like disease in Tursiops truncatus from Brazil: a histopathological and immunohistochemical approach

“…This could be related to influx of terrestrial pollutants (Woodward-Clyde Consultants 1994) in ecosystems sustaining enclosed bodies of water with freshwater influx, leading to variations in temperature, tides anaerobic sediment conditions, and salinity levels. Salinity could also be involved in dermal lesions in re sident inshore cetaceans (Wilson et al 1999, Murdoch et al 2008, Burdett Hart et al 2011. Another aspect to be considered is the fact that offshore animals are rarely examined in comparison to inshore animals.…”

A Systematic Review of Changes in Marine Mammal Health in North America, 1972-2012: The Need for a Novel Integrated Approach

“…This led to an elevation in calculated cases during the study period reported in the publication. For instance, a peak in the number of fungal calculated cases in 2003 resulted from a single publication that estimated prevalence of lacaziosis in a study population over two years [ 34 ]. This reflects a short period of reporting of endemic chronic skin lesions present in other years, rather than an outbreak of fungal cases in the southeast U.S. in those two years.…”