Brucellosis in Marine Mammals: Veterinary Laboratories Agency Involvement

摘要

Brucellosis is an important zoonotic disease usually associated with cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. In 1994 Brucella was isolated from four Common seals (Phoca vitulina), two Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) and one Common dolphin (Delphini delphinus) in Scotland and a captive Bottlenose dolphin {Tursiops truncatus) in the USA. These isolates were found to be morphologically and molecularly different from the terrestrial strains and have been proposed the names Brucella maris or B. cetacea and B. pinnipedia, based on host specificity.