Cetacean Morbillivirus Infection in a Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) from Brazil.

We provide pathological, immunohistochemical and molecular evidence of cetacean morbillivirus (CeMV) infection in a live-stranded adult female killer whale (Orcinus orca), which stranded alive in Espírito Santo State, Brazil, in 2014. Although attempts were made to release the animal, it stranded again and died. The main pathological findings were severe pulmonary oedema, pleural petechiation, multifocal, lymphoplasmacytic meningoencephalitis and leptomeningomyelitis with perivascular cuffing and gliosis, chronic lymphocytic bronchointerstitial pneumonia and multicentric lymph node and splenic lymphoid depletion. Other pathological findings were associated with the 'live-stranding stress response'. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed multifocal morbilliviral antigen in neurons and astrocytes, and in pneumocytes, histiocytes and leukocytes in the lung. CeMV was detected by a novel reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction method in the brain and kidney. Phylogenetic analysis of part of the morbillivirus phosphoprotein gene indicates that the virus is similar to the Guiana dolphin (Sotalia guianensis) morbillivirus strain, known to affect cetaceans along the coast of Brazil. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of morbillivirus disease in killer whales.

Molecular, serological, pathological, immunohistochemical and microbiological investigation of Brucella spp. in marine mammals of Brazil reveals new cetacean hosts.

Brucella-exposure and infection is increasingly recognized in marine mammals worldwide. To better understand the epidemiology and health impacts of Brucella spp. in marine mammals of Brazil, molecular (conventional PCR and/or real-time PCR), serological (Rose Bengal Test [RBT], Competitive [c]ELISA, Serum Agglutination Test [SAT]), pathological, immunohistochemical (IHC) and/or microbiological investigations were conducted in samples of 129 stranded or by-caught marine mammals (orders Cetartiodactyla [n = 124], Carnivora [n = 4] and Sirenia [n = 1]). Previous serological tests performed on available sera of 27 of the 129 animals (26 cetaceans and one manatee), indicated 10 seropositive cetaceans. Conventional PCR and/or real-time PCR performed in cases with available organs (n = 119) and/or blood or swabs (n = 10) revealed 4/129 (3.1%) Brucella-infected cetaceans (one of them with positive serology; the remaining three with no available sera). Pathological, IHC and/or microbiological analyses conducted in PCR/real-time PCR and/or seropositive cases (n = 13) revealed Brucella-type lesions, including meningitis/meningoencephalitis, pneumonia, necrotizing hepatitis, pericarditis and osteoarthritis in some of those animals, and positive IHC was found in all of them (excepting two live-stranded animals without available organs). Brucella spp. culture attempts were unsuccessful. Our results demonstrated exposure, asymptomatic, acute and chronic Brucella sp. infection in several cetacean species in the Brazilian coast, highlighting the role of this pathogen in stranding and/or death, particularly in Clymene dolphin (Stenella clymene) and short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus) off Ceará State. Novel hosts susceptible to Brucella included the franciscana (Pontoporia blainvillei), the Guiana dolphin (Sotalia guianensis) and the spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris). Additionally, three coinfection cases involving Brucella spp. and cetacean morbillivirus, Edwarsiella tarda and Proteus mirabilis were detected. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first long-term and large-scale survey of Brucella spp. in marine mammals of South America, widening the spectrum of susceptible hosts and geographical distribution range of this agent with zoonotic potential.

Pulmonary and systemic fungal infections in an Atlantic spotted dolphin and a Bryde's whale, Brazil.

We report the gross and microscopic findings and molecular identification of 2 cases of hyphate fungal infection in cetaceans from Brazil. The first case involved an adult male Atlantic spotted dolphin Stenella frontalis with localized pulmonary disease characterized by pyogranulomatous and necrotizing bronchopneumonia with intralesional hyphae. The second case involved an adult male Bryde's whale Balaenoptera edeni with orchitis, periorchitis, mesenteric lymphadenitis and pyogranulomatous bronchopneumonia with intralesional hyphae. PCR analysis from the dolphin's lung yielded Aspergillus fumigatus, and the fungus from the whale's mesenteric lymph node showed the greatest identity to Nanniziopsis obscura and Stagonosporopsis cucurbitacearum These cases represent the first reports of pulmonary aspergillosis by A. fumigatus in an Atlantic spotted dolphin and systemic mycosis by a possibly novel Onygenales in marine mammals.