Abstract

Between 2015 and the beginning of 2018 (January-March), 30 cetaceans were found stranded along the Ligurian Sea coast of Italy. Necropsies were performed in 22 cases and infectious diseases resulted the most common cause of death. Three striped dolphins, showed a severe coinfection involving the monophasic variant of Salmonella Typhimurium (Salmonella 1,4,[5],12:i:-). The isolates were characterized based on antimicrobial resistance, Multiple-Locus Variable-number tandem-repeat Analysis (MLVA) and whole-genome sequencing (WGS). All isolates demonstrated the same multidrug resistant genotype (ASSuT isolates), showed three different MLVA profiles, two of which closely related, and were identified as Sequence Type 34. Moreover, Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) analysis confirmed strong correlations between two out of the three isolates. To our knowledge, S. 1,4,[5],12:i:-, one of the most common serovars in cases of human infection and food sources worldwide, has not previously been described in marine mammals, and reports of Salmonella-associated disease in free-ranging cetaceans are rare. These results highlight the role of cetaceans as sentinel species for zoonotic and terrestrial pathogens in the marine environment, suggest a potential risk for cetaceans and public health along the North Western Italian coastline and indicate cetaceans as a novel potential reservoir for one of the most widespread Salmonella serovars.

Details

Title
First report of Salmonella 1,4,[5],12:i:- in free-ranging striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba), Italy
Author
Grattarola, C 1 ; Gallina, S 1 ; Giorda, F 2 ; Pautasso, A 1 ; Ballardini, M 1 ; Iulini, B 1 ; Varello, K 1 ; Goria, M 1 ; Peletto, S 1 ; Masoero, L 1 ; Serracca, L 1 ; Romano, A 1 ; Dondo, A 1 ; Zoppi, S 1 ; Garibaldi, F 3 ; Scaglione, F E 4 ; Marsili, L 5 ; Di Guardo G 6 ; Lettini, A A 7 ; Mignone, W 1 ; Fernandez, A 8 ; Casalone, C 1 

 Liguria e Valle d’Aosta, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, Torino, Italy (GRID:grid.425427.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1759 3180) 
 Liguria e Valle d’Aosta, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, Torino, Italy (GRID:grid.425427.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1759 3180); University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Arucas, Institute of Animal Health, Las Palmas, Spain (GRID:grid.4521.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1769 9380) 
 Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Genoa, Department of Earth, Genoa, Italy (GRID:grid.5606.5) (ISNI:0000 0001 2151 3065) 
 University of Turin, Grugliasco, Department of Veterinary Sciences, Turin, Italy (GRID:grid.7605.4) (ISNI:0000 0001 2336 6580) 
 University of Siena, Department of Physical, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Siena, Italy (GRID:grid.9024.f) (ISNI:0000 0004 1757 4641) 
 University of Teramo, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Teramo, Italy (GRID:grid.17083.3d) (ISNI:0000 0001 2202 794X) 
 Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Legnaro, Reference Laboratory for Salmonella, Padua, Italy (GRID:grid.419593.3) (ISNI:0000 0004 1805 1826) 
 University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Arucas, Institute of Animal Health, Las Palmas, Spain (GRID:grid.4521.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1769 9380) 
Publication year
2019
Publication date
2019
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2210010508
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.