Antibodies to Brucella in marine mammals around the coast of England and Wales.

Following the isolation of previously unrecognised species of from stranded seals and cetaceans in Scotland and northern England, a serological survey was carried out to investigate the range of marine mammal species which may have been exposed to species around the coasts of England and Wales, the prevalence of infection and the temporal and geographical distribution of seropositive animals. Serum collected from 153 stranded marine mammals from the coasts of England and Wales between 1989 and 1995 were tested by competitive and indirect ELISA. Positive titres were recorded for six of 62 (10 per cent) grey seals (), one of 12 (8 per cent) common seals (), 11 of 35 (31 per cent) harbour porpoises () and nine of 29 (31 per cent) common dolphins () tested. Positive titres were also found in a striped dolphin (), a bottlenose dolphin (), a killer whale () and a pilot whale (). The seropositive animals were from all around the coasts of England and Wales and the first seropositive sample was from a common dolphin in 1990. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]