abstract

In the last seven years three female South American sea lions (Otaria byronia) were diagnosed at post mortem with Mycobacterium pinnipedii. All of these animals were wild-caught and in captivity for at least eight years. Adjacent to the exhibit of the South American sea lions were Bactrian camels (Camelus bactrianus), Malayan tapirs (Tapirus indicus) and Crested porcupines ((Hystrix cristata) and each housed and cared for by the same keepers. Further investigations revealed M. pinnipedii-infections in all three neighbouring species and all the staff members for this area of the zoo tested negative.

All of the remaining animals were tested using various diagnostic methods. These included comparative intradermal tuberculin testing, x-ray, PCR and culture of sputum sample, Rapid test (RT) based on lateral flow technology (ElephantTB-STAT-PAK) and multiantigen print immunoassay (MAPIA). The animals received treatment for the last nine months and therapy success and chronic respiratory infections were confirmed by the help of computed tomography.

The Rapid test, provided a result within 20 minutes of the blood sample and was supported by the MAPIA-technique performed in the laboratory. Furthermore we were able to confirm that a formerly actively shedding animal that has been quarantined and treated immediately for more than nine months showed no remaining lesions on CT scan pictures.

In 2006/2007 various other European zoos detected tuberculosis in their collections of South American sea lions (Otaria byronia) using various diagnostic methods, confirmed by necropsy.

We are dealing with an emerging infectious zoonotic disease that is able to infect terrestrial species as well as other marine mammals within a zoological collection. Therefore further research is necessary and pre-shipment testing would be an important requirement before adding new animals to healthy groups.

acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank all participating institutions, the keepers at the Heidelberg Zoo, the university of Heidelberg and especially Geraldine Lacave and Daniel Garcia Parraga for their support during anesthesias and CT scans.