Abstract
A dwarf sperm whale Kogia sima stranded alive along the Central Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. The whale, handled by tourists and local inhabitants, was weak, had buoyancy difficulties, and eventually aborted and died, showing severe necrotizing placentitis and other pathological signs. Both the mother and the fetus had antibodies against Brucella lipopolysaccharide. Brucella organisms were isolated from various tissues of both animals and were characterized. The bacterium genome corresponded to sequence-type 27 (ST27) and clustered together with other Brucella ST27 isolated in humans and cetaceans.
Highlights
Cetacean brucellosis is an infectious disease caused by Brucella organisms (Guzman-Verri et al 2012; Maquart et al 2009)
In Costa Rica, most of the dolphins stranding along the Pacific coast display neurobrucellosis and associated pathologies (Gonzalez-Barrientos et al 2010)
Brucella sequence-type 27 (ST27) may have zoonotic relevance since strains of this ST have been found in humans with brucellosis (Sohn et al 2003; McDonald et al 2006); albeit, the sources of infections remain unknown
Summary
Cetacean brucellosis is an infectious disease caused by Brucella organisms (Guzman-Verri et al 2012; Maquart et al 2009). Many cetaceans have antibodies against Brucella organisms, suggesting that the infection is common (Guzmán-Verri et al 2012; Isidoro-Ayza et al 2014; Hernández-Mora et al 2009). The most common agent causing cetacean brucellosis is Brucella
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