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1. Occurrence of Brucella ceti in striped dolphins from Italian Seas.

Author

Giuliano Garofolo, Antonio Petrella, Giuseppe Lucifora, Gabriella Di Francesco, Giovanni Di Guardo, Alessandra Pautasso, Barbara Iulini, Katia Varello, Federica Giorda, Maria Goria, Alessandro Dondo, Simona Zoppi, Cristina Esmeralda Di Francesco, Stefania Giglio, Furio Ferringo, Luigina Serrecchia, Mattia Anna Rita Ferrantino, Katiuscia Zilli, Anna Janowicz, Manuela Tittarelli, Walter Mignone, Cristina Casalone, and Carla Grattarola

Subjects
Medicine, Science
Abstract

Brucella ceti infections have been increasingly reported in cetaceans, although a very limited characterization of Mediterranean Brucella spp. isolates has been previously reported and relatively few data exist about brucellosis among cetaceans in Italy. To address this gap, we studied 8 cases of B. ceti infection in striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) stranded along the Italian coastline from 2012 to 2018, investigated thanks to the Italian surveillance activity on stranded cetaceans. We focused on cases of stranding in eastern and western Italian seas, occurred along the Apulia (N = 6), Liguria (N = 1) and Calabria (N = 1) coastlines, through the analysis of gross and microscopic findings, the results of microbiological, biomolecular and serological investigations, as well as the detection of other relevant pathogens. The comparative genomic analysis used whole genome sequences of B. ceti from Italy paired with the publicly available complete genomes. Pathological changes consistent with B. ceti infection were detected in the central nervous system of 7 animals, showing non-suppurative meningoencephalitis. In 4 cases severe coinfections were detected, mostly involving Dolphin Morbillivirus (DMV). The severity of B. ceti-associated lesions supports the role of this microbial agent as a primary neurotropic pathogen for striped dolphins. We classified the 8 isolates into the common sequence type 26 (ST-26). Whole genome SNP analysis showed that the strains from Italy clustered into two genetically distinct clades. The first clade comprised exclusively the isolates from Ionian and Adriatic Seas, while the second one included the strain from the Ligurian Sea and those from the Catalonian coast. Plotting these clades onto the geographic map suggests a link between their phylogeny and topographical distribution. These results represent the first extensive characterization of B. ceti isolated from Italian waters reported to date and show the usefulness of WGS for understanding of the evolution of this emerging pathogen.

Published
2020
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2. Occurrence of Brucella ceti in striped dolphins from Italian Seas

Author

Furio Ferringo, Carla Grattarola, Giuseppe Lucifora, Giovanni Di Guardo, Alessandra Pautasso, Barbara Iulini, Antonio Petrella, Federica Giorda, Mattia Anna Rita Ferrantino, Stefania Giglio, Manuela Tittarelli, Maria Goria, Katiuscia Zilli, Cristina Casalone, Alessandro Dondo, Gabriella Di Francesco, Anna Janowicz, Luigina Serrecchia, Cristina Esmeralda Di Francesco, Simona Zoppi, Walter Mignone, Katia Varello, and Giuliano Garofolo

Subjects
Central Nervous System, European People, Physiology, Marine and Aquatic Sciences, Stenella coeruleoalba, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Genome, Nervous System, Toxoplasma Gondii, Morbillivirus, Stenella, Immune Physiology, Pathology, Medicine and Health Sciences, Ethnicities, Clade, Mammals, Protozoans, Likelihood Functions, Multidisciplinary, biology, Brucella ceti, Neurobrucellosis, Striped dolphin, Stenella coeruleoalba, Pathology, Italy, Mediterranean Sea, Geography, Meningoencephalitis, Eukaryota, Genomics, Bacterial Pathogens, Italian People, Italy, Medical Microbiology, Vertebrates, Medicine, Mediterranean Sea, Neurobrucellosis, Pathogens, Anatomy, Toxoplasma, Research Article, Dolphins, Oceans and Seas, Science, Zoology, Marine Biology, Brucella, Microbiology, Lymphatic System, Brucella ceti, Phylogenetics, biology.animal, medicine, Genetics, Animals, Marine Mammals, Striped dolphin, Microbial Pathogens, Bacteria, Organisms, Biology and Life Sciences, medicine.disease, biology.organism_classification, Parasitic Protozoans, Amniotes, People and Places, Earth Sciences, Population Groupings, Lymph Nodes, Spleen
Abstract

Brucella ceti infections have been increasingly reported in cetaceans, although a very limited characterization of Mediterranean Brucella spp. isolates has been previously reported and relatively few data exist about brucellosis among cetaceans in Italy. To address this gap, we studied 8 cases of B. ceti infection in striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) stranded along the Italian coastline from 2012 to 2018, investigated thanks to the Italian surveillance activity on stranded cetaceans. We focused on cases of stranding in eastern and western Italian seas, occurred along the Apulia (N = 6), Liguria (N = 1) and Calabria (N = 1) coastlines, through the analysis of gross and microscopic findings, the results of microbiological, biomolecular and serological investigations, as well as the detection of other relevant pathogens. The comparative genomic analysis used whole genome sequences of B. ceti from Italy paired with the publicly available complete genomes. Pathological changes consistent with B. ceti infection were detected in the central nervous system of 7 animals, showing non-suppurative meningoencephalitis. In 4 cases severe coinfections were detected, mostly involving Dolphin Morbillivirus (DMV). The severity of B. ceti-associated lesions supports the role of this microbial agent as a primary neurotropic pathogen for striped dolphins. We classified the 8 isolates into the common sequence type 26 (ST-26). Whole genome SNP analysis showed that the strains from Italy clustered into two genetically distinct clades. The first clade comprised exclusively the isolates from Ionian and Adriatic Seas, while the second one included the strain from the Ligurian Sea and those from the Catalonian coast. Plotting these clades onto the geographic map suggests a link between their phylogeny and topographical distribution. These results represent the first extensive characterization of B. ceti isolated from Italian waters reported to date and show the usefulness of WGS for understanding of the evolution of this emerging pathogen.

Published
2020

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