NEMATODE (OTOSTRONGYLUS CIRCUMLITUS) INFESTATION OF NORTHERN ELEPHANT SEALS (MIROUNGA ANGUSTIROSTRIS) STRANDED ALONG THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA COAST |
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Authors: | F. M. D. Gulland K. Beckmen K. Burek L. Lowenstine L. Werner T. Spraker M. Dailey E. Harris |
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Affiliation: | The Marine Mammal Center, Marin Headlands, Sausalito, California 94965, U.S.A.;P.O. Box 773072, Eagle River, Alaska 99577-3072, U.S.A;Department of Veterinary Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, California 95616, U.S.A.;2905 Stanford Road, Fort Collins, Colorado 80525, U.S.A.;P.O. Box 1171, Gunnison, Colorado 81230, U.S.A.;Parasitic Worms Division, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, United Kingdom |
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Abstract: | Between 1 January 1992 and 31 December 1995, 73 of 487 (15%) juvenile northern elephant seals ( Mirounga angustirostris ) that stranded along the central California coastline and were transported to a rehabilitation center had similar clinical signs. These signs included anorexia, depression, dehydration, and epistaxis, and were accompanied by a neutrophilia. Coagulation assays on five of these animals indicated all five were in a state of disseminated intra-vascular coagulation. Sixty-five of the 73 animals died, and post-mortem examination revealed heavy burdens of Otostrongylus circumlitas in the right ventricle and atrium of the hearts and pulmonary arteries, with occasional nem-atodes in the bronchi and bronchioles. Histologic examination of 33 of these seals showed multiple pulmonary thromboses associated with a suppurative arteritis and occasionally intravascular nematodes, suggesting disseminated intravascular coagulation triggered by an arteritis may be important in causing mortality of elephant seals infested with O. circumlitus. This pathology, combined with the observation that death of juvenile northern elephant seals infected with O. circumlitus usually occurs prior to the parasite reaching reproductive maturity, suggests this is a relatively recent host-parasite association. |
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Keywords: | elephant seal Mirounga angustirostris nematode Otostrongylus circumlitus disseminated intravascular coagulation pathology |
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