Brucella sp. sequence-type 27 associated with abortion in dwarf sperm whale Kogia sima

• Published in: European Journal of Wildlife Research
• Main Authors: Hernández-Mora, Gabriela, González-Barrientos, Rocío, Víquez-Ruíz, Eunice, Palacios-Alfaro, José David, Bettoni-Rodríguez, Gianmarco, Gendre, Marlène, Vincent, Charline, Roca-Monge, Karol, Ruiz-Villalobos, Nazareth, Suárez-Esquivel, Marcela, Cordero-Chavarría, Minor, Chaves-Olarte, Esteban, Thomson, Nicholas R., Barquero-Calvo, Elías, Moreno, Edgardo, Guzmán-Verri, Caterina
• Other Authors: CONARE, FIDA San José, Costa Rica, MICITT
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2021
• Subjects: Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law; Nature and Landscape Conservation; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Pacific; Sperm whale
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10344-021-01502-5; https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10344-021-01502-5.pdf; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10344-021-01502-5/fulltext.html

Abstract A dwarf sperm whale Kogia sima stranded alive along the Central Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. The whale, handled by tourists and local inhabitants, was weak, had buoyancy difficulties, and eventually aborted and died, showing severe necrotizing placentitis and other pathological signs. Both the mother and the fetus had antibodies against Brucella lipopolysaccharide. Brucella organisms were isolated from various tissues of both animals and were characterized. The bacterium genome corresponded to sequence-type 27 (ST27) and clustered together with other Brucella ST27 isolated in humans and cetaceans.