Comparative Innate and Adaptive Immune Responses in Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) With Viral, Bacterial, and Fungal Infections.

Free-ranging Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (n = 360) from two southeastern U.S. estuarine sites were given comprehensive health examinations between 2003 and 2015 as part of a multi-disciplinary research project focused on individual and population health. The study sites (and sample sizes) included the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), Florida, USA (n = 246) and Charleston harbor and associated rivers (CHS), South Carolina, USA (n = 114). Results of a suite of clinicoimmunopathologic tests revealed that both populations have a high prevalence of infectious and neoplastic disease and a variety of abnormalities of their innate and adaptive immune systems. Subclinical infections with cetacean morbillivirus and Chlamydiaceae were detected serologically. Clinical evidence of orogenital papillomatosis was supported by the detection of a new strain of dolphin papillomavirus and herpesvirus by molecular pathology. Dolphins with cutaneous lobomycosis/lacaziasis were subsequently shown to be infected with a novel, uncultivated strain of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, now established as the etiologic agent of this enigmatic disease in dolphins. In this review, innate and adaptive immunologic responses are compared between healthy dolphins and those with clinical and/or immunopathologic evidence of infection with these specific viral, bacterial, and fungal pathogens. A wide range of immunologic host responses was associated with each pathogen, reflecting the dynamic and complex interplay between the innate, humoral, and cell-mediated immune systems in the dolphin. Collectively, these studies document the comparative innate and adaptive immune responses to various types of infectious diseases in free-ranging Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. Evaluation of the type, pattern, and degree of immunologic response to these pathogens provides novel insight on disease immunopathogenesis in this species and as a comparative model. Importantly, the data suggest that in some cases infection may be associated with subclinical immunopathologic perturbations that could impact overall individual and population health.

Toward the identification, characterization and experimental culture of Lacazia loboi from Atlantic bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus).

Lobomycosis (lacaziosis) is a chronic, granulomatous, fungal infection of the skin and subcutaneous tissues of humans and dolphins. To date, the causative agent, the yeast-like organism Lacazia loboi, has not been grown in the laboratory, and there have been no recent reports describing attempts to culture the organism. As a result, studies on the efficacy of therapeutics and potential environmental reservoirs have not been conducted. Therefore, the objective of the current study was to utilize both classical and novel microbiological methods in order to stimulate growth of Lacazia cells collected from dolphin lesions. This included the experimental inoculation of novel media, cell culture, and the use of artificial skin matrices. Although unsuccessful, the methods and results of this study provide important insight into new approaches that could be utilized in future investigations of this elusive organism.

Lobomycosis: risk of zoonotic transmission from dolphins to humans.

Lobomycosis, a fungal disease of the skin and subcutaneous tissues caused by Lacazia loboi, is sometimes referred to as a zoonotic disease because it affects only specific delphinidae and humans; however, the evidence that it can be transferred directly to humans from dolphins is weak. Dolphins have also been postulated to be responsible for an apparent geographic expansion of the disease in humans. Morphological and molecular differences between the human and dolphin organisms, differences in geographic distribution of the diseases between dolphins and humans, the existence of only a single documented case of presumed zoonotic transmission, and anecdotal evidence of lack of transmission to humans following accidental inoculation of tissue from infected dolphins do not support the hypothesis that dolphins infected with L. loboi represent a zoonotic hazard for humans. In addition, the lack of human cases in communities adjacent to coastal estuaries with a high prevalence of lobomycosis in dolphins, such as the Indian River Lagoon in Florida (IRL), suggests that direct or indirect transmission of L. loboi from dolphins to humans occurs rarely, if at all. Nonetheless, attention to personal hygiene and general principals of infection control are always appropriate when handling tissues from an animal with a presumptive diagnosis of a mycotic or fungal disease.

Social marketing self-esteem: a socio-medical approach to high-risk and skin tone alteration activities.

This paper proposes social marketing as a tool to build individual self-esteem and thus prevent the uptake of activities that pose risk to health. Evidence supporting this approach can be drawn from pioneer social marketing campaigns of the last 30 years that successfully addressed the prevention, treatment and stigmatization of skin cancer and leprosy with a fraction of the communication and media tools available today. Focusing primarily on the practices of skin tanning and lightening, this paper builds on studies that validate the ties between self-esteem and behavior, and addresses popular conceptions of skin color as drivers for individual behavior.

A cooperative taxonomic study of mycobacteria isolated from armadillos infected with Mycobacterium leprae.

Seventeen strains of mycobacteria, recovered from six armadillos experimentally infected with Mycobacterium leprae, were examined in ten different laboratories. This collaborative study included use of conventional bacteriological tests, lipid analyses, determination of mycobactins and peptidoglycans, characterization by Py-MS, and immunological, metabolic, pathological and DNA studies. These armadillo-derived mycobacteria (ADM) formed five homogeneous groups (numbered ADM 1 to 5) on the basis of phenetic analyses. However, DNA studies revealed only four homogeneous groups since group ADM 1 and one of the two strains in group ADM 3 showed a high level of DNA relatedness. The phenetic and DNA studies confirmed that the ADM strains differed from all other known mycobacteria. Cultural, biochemical, metabolic and pathogenic properties as well as DNA-DNA hybridizations clearly differentiated these ADM from M. leprae.

Specific health problems of Southeast Asian refugees in middle Tennessee.

Three diseases representative of specific health conditions affecting the Southeast Asian refugees living in middle Tennessee are leprosy (chronic bacterial infections), liver fluke infection (parasitic diseases), and hemoglobin E-beta-thalassemia (hematologic disorders). In this paper we discuss incidence, causative agent, mode of transmission, metabolic abnormalities, and management of these conditions.

Acid-fast bacilli on buffy coat smears in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome: a lesson from Hansen's bacillus.

A patient with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome was found to have a continuous bacillemia of Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare by examination of Kinyoun-stained buffy coat smears. There were 29 cells/cu mm that contained acid-fast bacilli (AFB) and 1.5 X 10(5) AFB/ml of whole blood. The cells of the reticuloendothelial system were engorged with AFB, suggesting reticuloendothelial saturation. The peripheral blood involvement and magnitude of the mycobacterial burden are analogous to leprosy, and it is suggested that other similarities between the immunobiology of leprosy and disseminated M avium-intracellulare infection in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome may exist.

N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase, beta-glucuronidase and acid phosphatase in Mycobacterium leprae.

N-Acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase, beta-glucuronidase and acid phosphatase activities were detected in cell-free extracts of Mycobacterium leprae (from armadillo liver). Extracts of bacteria which had been treated with 7-diazonaphthalene-1,3-disulphonic acid to inactivate surface enzymes retained 30-45% of the activity of the glycosidases and 15% of the activity of the acid phosphatase. When intact bacteria were treated with 1 M-NaOH, the corresponding activity in the extracts was 4--9% for the glycosidases and 7% for the acid phosphatase. Inhibition studies with lactones and the use of concanavalin A-agarose showed differences between the glycosidases in extracts of M. leprae and those of armadillo liver. Inhibition studies with vanadate using extracts from NaOH-treated bacteria and extracts of armadillo liver showed differences between the acid phosphatases. Enzymes removed from the surface of M. leprae could have been adsorbed to the surface from host tissue (i.e. lysosomal enzymes) or they could have been extracellular enzymes or associated with the bacterial membrane.

Superoxide dismutase, peroxidatic activity and catalase in Mycobacterium leprae purified from armadillo liver.

Superoxide dismutase has been identified and peroxidatic activity demonstrated in Mycobacterium leprae. The superoxide dismutase, shown indirectly to be a manganese-containing enzyme, was present at low activity in the cell-free extract. Peroxidatic activity was detected in a haemoprotein on polyacrylamide gels, but quantitative assay was not possible. Catalase, although present in a cell-free extract, appeared to be a host-derived enzyme, thus emphasizing the importance of establishing the authenticity of enzyme activities in host-derived M. leprae. The implications for the growth of M. leprae in vivo and its non-cultivability are discussed in the light of these findings.