Exposure of harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ) to Brucella in declining populations across Scotland
Since 2000 there have been major declines in the abundance of Scottish harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ). The causes of the declines remain uncertain. The aim of this study was to establish the extent to which the seals in the regions of greatest decline have been exposed to Brucella , a bacterial pa...
Published in: | Diseases of Aquatic Organisms |
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2017
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Online Access: | https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/exposure-of-harbour-seals-phoca-vitulina-to-brucella-in-declining-populations-across-scotland(f6b9b6ed-ed9e-4fd1-a15e-0b9c63377f00).html https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03163 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/11719/1/Kershaw_2017_Exposure_of_harbour_DAO_12_CC.pdf |
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ftunstandrewcris:oai:risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk:publications/f6b9b6ed-ed9e-4fd1-a15e-0b9c63377f00 2023-05-15T17:58:53+02:00 Exposure of harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ) to Brucella in declining populations across Scotland Kershaw, Joanna Louise Stubberfield, Emma J. Foster, Geoffrey Brownlow, Andrew Hall, Ailsa Jane Perrett, Lorraine L. 2017-09-20 application/pdf https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/exposure-of-harbour-seals-phoca-vitulina-to-brucella-in-declining-populations-across-scotland(f6b9b6ed-ed9e-4fd1-a15e-0b9c63377f00).html https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03163 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/11719/1/Kershaw_2017_Exposure_of_harbour_DAO_12_CC.pdf eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Kershaw , J L , Stubberfield , E J , Foster , G , Brownlow , A , Hall , A J & Perrett , L L 2017 , ' Exposure of harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ) to Brucella in declining populations across Scotland ' , Diseases of Aquatic Organisms , vol. 126 , no. 1 , pp. 12-23 . https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03163 Pinnipeds Brucella Disease Cultures Seroprevalence Antibodies ELISA Rose Bengal plate agglutination test article 2017 ftunstandrewcris https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03163 2021-12-26T14:30:39Z Since 2000 there have been major declines in the abundance of Scottish harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ). The causes of the declines remain uncertain. The aim of this study was to establish the extent to which the seals in the regions of greatest decline have been exposed to Brucella , a bacterial pathogen that causes reproductive failure in terrestrial mammalian hosts. Tissues from dead seals collected between 1992 and 2013 were cultured for Brucella (n=150). Serum samples collected from live capture-released seals (n=343) between 1997 and 2012 were tested for Brucella antibodies using the Rose Bengal plate agglutination test (RBT) and a competitive Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). 16% of seals cultured had Brucella isolated from one or more tissues but there were no pathological signs of infection. The cELISA results were more sensitive than the RBT results showing that overall, 25.4% of seals were seropositive with the highest seroprevalence in juveniles. As there was no evidence of either a higher seroprevalence, or higher circulating antibody levels in seropositive animals in the areas with the greatest declines, it was concluded that Brucella infection is likely not a major contributing factor to recent declines. However, the consistently high proportion of seals exposed to Brucella indicates possible endemicity in these populations, likely due to B. pinnipedialis , which has demonstrated a preference for pinniped hosts. Importantly, given the close proximity between seals, humans and livestock in many areas, there is the potential for cross-species infections. Article in Journal/Newspaper Phoca vitulina University of St Andrews: Research Portal Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 126 1 13 23 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of St Andrews: Research Portal |
op_collection_id |
ftunstandrewcris |
language |
English |
topic |
Pinnipeds Brucella Disease Cultures Seroprevalence Antibodies ELISA Rose Bengal plate agglutination test |
spellingShingle |
Pinnipeds Brucella Disease Cultures Seroprevalence Antibodies ELISA Rose Bengal plate agglutination test Kershaw, Joanna Louise Stubberfield, Emma J. Foster, Geoffrey Brownlow, Andrew Hall, Ailsa Jane Perrett, Lorraine L. Exposure of harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ) to Brucella in declining populations across Scotland |
topic_facet |
Pinnipeds Brucella Disease Cultures Seroprevalence Antibodies ELISA Rose Bengal plate agglutination test |
description |
Since 2000 there have been major declines in the abundance of Scottish harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ). The causes of the declines remain uncertain. The aim of this study was to establish the extent to which the seals in the regions of greatest decline have been exposed to Brucella , a bacterial pathogen that causes reproductive failure in terrestrial mammalian hosts. Tissues from dead seals collected between 1992 and 2013 were cultured for Brucella (n=150). Serum samples collected from live capture-released seals (n=343) between 1997 and 2012 were tested for Brucella antibodies using the Rose Bengal plate agglutination test (RBT) and a competitive Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). 16% of seals cultured had Brucella isolated from one or more tissues but there were no pathological signs of infection. The cELISA results were more sensitive than the RBT results showing that overall, 25.4% of seals were seropositive with the highest seroprevalence in juveniles. As there was no evidence of either a higher seroprevalence, or higher circulating antibody levels in seropositive animals in the areas with the greatest declines, it was concluded that Brucella infection is likely not a major contributing factor to recent declines. However, the consistently high proportion of seals exposed to Brucella indicates possible endemicity in these populations, likely due to B. pinnipedialis , which has demonstrated a preference for pinniped hosts. Importantly, given the close proximity between seals, humans and livestock in many areas, there is the potential for cross-species infections. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kershaw, Joanna Louise Stubberfield, Emma J. Foster, Geoffrey Brownlow, Andrew Hall, Ailsa Jane Perrett, Lorraine L. |
author_facet |
Kershaw, Joanna Louise Stubberfield, Emma J. Foster, Geoffrey Brownlow, Andrew Hall, Ailsa Jane Perrett, Lorraine L. |
author_sort |
Kershaw, Joanna Louise |
title |
Exposure of harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ) to Brucella in declining populations across Scotland |
title_short |
Exposure of harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ) to Brucella in declining populations across Scotland |
title_full |
Exposure of harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ) to Brucella in declining populations across Scotland |
title_fullStr |
Exposure of harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ) to Brucella in declining populations across Scotland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Exposure of harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ) to Brucella in declining populations across Scotland |
title_sort |
exposure of harbour seals ( phoca vitulina ) to brucella in declining populations across scotland |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/exposure-of-harbour-seals-phoca-vitulina-to-brucella-in-declining-populations-across-scotland(f6b9b6ed-ed9e-4fd1-a15e-0b9c63377f00).html https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03163 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/11719/1/Kershaw_2017_Exposure_of_harbour_DAO_12_CC.pdf |
genre |
Phoca vitulina |
genre_facet |
Phoca vitulina |
op_source |
Kershaw , J L , Stubberfield , E J , Foster , G , Brownlow , A , Hall , A J & Perrett , L L 2017 , ' Exposure of harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ) to Brucella in declining populations across Scotland ' , Diseases of Aquatic Organisms , vol. 126 , no. 1 , pp. 12-23 . https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03163 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03163 |
container_title |
Diseases of Aquatic Organisms |
container_volume |
126 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
13 |
op_container_end_page |
23 |
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1766167604368506880 |