Frequency of exposure of endangered Caspian seals to Canine distemper virus, Leptospira interrogans, and Toxoplasma gondii.

ABSTRACT: Canine distemper virus (CDV), Leptospira interrogans, and Toxoplasma gondii are potentially lethal pathogens associated with decline in marine mammal populations. The Caspian Sea is home for the endangered Caspian seal (Pusa caspica). In the late 1990s and early 2000s, CDV caused a series of mortality events involving at least several thousand Caspian seals. To assess current infection status in Caspian seals, we surveyed for antibodies to three pathogens with potential to cause mortality in marine mammals. During 2015-2017, we tested serum samples from 36, apparently healthy, Caspian seals, accidentally caught in fishing nets in the Caspian Sea off Northern Iran, for antibodies to CDV, L. interrogans, and T. gondii, by virus neutralization, microscopic agglutination, and modified agglutin

SUBMITTER: Namroodi S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5919510 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature