Abstract
Live and dead stranded marine animals examined as part of the Alaska SeaLife Center's (ASLC) stranding program are routinely screened for fecal pathogens and exposure to a variety of diseases known to affect marine mammals and/or humans. Additionally, field projects investigating wild populations often screen live captured animals for these same fecal pathogens. This screening provides insight into conditions active in wild populations as well as information concerning the impacts of climate change. One fecal pathogen in particular, Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Vp) is consider to be an indicator of climate change as this organism only proliferates in waters with temperatures higher than 15°C. Alaska experienced its first outbreak of Vp associated gastroenteritis involving 62 people who consumed raw oysters from Prince William Sound during the summer of 2004.1 Alterations in commercial oyster farming practices, namely lowering oysters below the thermocline prior to harvest, reduced human cases the following year. Since that time ASLC has found Vp. in seven northern sea otters and one harbor porpoise from south-central Alaska and one beluga whale in Bristol Bay. Of 20 stranded animals testing positive for any Vibrio, 12 grew V. alginolyticus, 8 grew Vp (5 of which also grew V. alginolyticus), and the rest included V. fluvialis, V. enterococcus, V. cholera, or were not speciated. Finding Vp in marine mammals underscores the importance of these animals as sentinels for the impacts of climate change. Additionally, this testing is useful for understanding the distribution of a pathogen that affects human health, especially in areas that are not routinely tested but are used in subsistence fisheries. Finally, the positive in Bristol Bay represents a range extension of Vp in Alaska.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the ASLC stranding staff for their necropsy support and excellent care of rehabilitation patients as well as the Bristol Bay beluga capture teams. Samples were collected under the following permits and agreements USFWS LOA-837414, NOAA/NMFS Stranding Agreement, and NOAA Permits 782-1719-07, 932-1489-10, 14245-01.
* Presenting author
Literature Cited
1. McLaughlin JB, DePaola A, Bopp CA, Martinek KA, Napolilli NP, Allison CG, Murray SL, Thompson EC, Bird M, Middaugh JP. 2005. Outbreak of Vibrio parahaemolyticus gastroenteritis associated with Alaskan oysters. N Engl J Med. 353(14):1463–70.