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Occurrence of a monophasic strain of Salmonella group B isolated from cetaceans in England and Wales between 1990 and 2002
Author(s) -
Valderrama Vasquez Carlos A.,
Macgregor Shaheed K.,
Rowcliffe J. Marcus,
Jepson Paul D.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
environmental microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.954
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1462-2920
pISSN - 1462-2912
DOI - 10.1111/j.1462-2920.2008.01651.x
Subject(s) - phocoena , salmonella , biology , veterinary medicine , pathogen , transmission (telecommunications) , harbour , zoology , microbiology and biotechnology , porpoise , bacteria , medicine , electrical engineering , computer science , genetics , programming language , engineering
Summary Between September 1990 and December 2002, 511 cetacean carcasses stranded or caught in commercial fisheries in England and Wales were examined post mortem . Salmonella group B was isolated from 60 of 279 (21.51%) harbour porpoises ( Phocoena phocoena ), predominantly from lung tissue. Forty‐three of the Salmonella group B isolates were subsequently serotyped and all found to have the antigenic structure O4,12:a:‐. The annual proportion of harbour porpoises testing positive for Salmonella O4,12:a:‐ increased significantly from 6% in the early 1990s to 27% after 1999. The cause(s) of the increasing prevalence of Salmonella O4,12:a:‐ are not known, but may reflect natural variation in the epidemiological cycle of Salmonella O4,12:a:‐ in harbour porpoises. The probability of isolating Salmonella O4,12:a:‐ from harbour porpoises increased with age, suggesting that the mode of transmission is principally horizontal. There appeared to be a weak degree of seasonality in the probability of isolating Salmonella O4,12:a:‐ with a low proportion of cases in the months of April and May. Based on pathological findings from infected carcasses, Salmonella O4,12:a:‐ may be part of the normal commensal flora of the lungs of cetaceans with the potential to act as an opportunistic pathogen.