Abstract

Salmonella and Campylobacter spp. bacteria are zoonotic pathogens that have been isolated from marine mammals worldwide. However, their prevalence, type and significance remain poorly understood. Prevalence of these pathogens was assessed in rectal swabs from 200 (122 live and 59 dead neonatal and 19 live juvenile) grey seals from Scottish coastal waters and evaluated with regards to breeding colony substrate, spatio-temporal distribution, life stage and pathology.

The prevalence of Salmonella spp. in grey seal pups was 21.1% with Salmonella enterica serovar Bovismorbificans and serovar Typhimurium the only two serotypes isolated. S. Bovismorbificans was isolated from 18.9% of live seal pups and with a significantly (p < 0.05) higher prevalence in live pups from sites exposed to tidal seawater compared to live pups not yet exposed to seawater (25.9% and 10.3%, respectively). The prevalence of Campylobacter spp. was 42.2% in grey seal pups (all groups combined) with C. jejuni and non-hippurate hydrolysing thermophilic Campylobacter sp. identified. No Salmonella or Campylobacter were isolated from rectal swabs from any live juveniles. On-going work will correlate the presence of isolates with necropsy findings in dead neonates and classify these at a molecular level, examining their relationship with those found in the terrestrial ecosystem.

* Presenting author
+ Student presenter