Detection of Brucella spp. in bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus by a real-time PCR using blowhole swabs

Diseases of Aquatic Organisms

Wendy N. Durden¹  Kristen M. Phillips¹  Jessica Conway¹  Qingzhong Wu¹  Wayne E. McFee¹  Megan Stolen¹  Deborah Fauquier¹  Lori Schwacke¹ 

关键词: Bottlenose dolphins;    Brucella spp.;    Real-time PCR;    Blowhole swab;    Lung;   

DOI  :  10.3354/dao03034

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Inter-Research

【 摘 要 】

ABSTRACT: Blowhole swabs are a simple and non-invasive method for collecting samples from cetaceans and can be used for screening large numbers of animals in the field. This study reports a real-time PCR assay for the detection of Brucella spp. using blowhole swab samples from bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus stranded in the coastal region of Virginia, South Carolina and northern Florida, USA, between 2013 and 2015. We used real-time PCR results on lung samples from the same dolphins in order to estimate the relative sensitivity and specificity of real-time PCR of blowhole swabs. Brucella DNA was detected in lung tissue of 22% (18/81) and in blowhole swabs of 21% (17/81) of the sampled dolphins. The relative sensitivity and specificity of real-time PCR on blowhole swabs as compared to the real-time PCR on lung samples was 94% (17/18) and 100% (63/63), respectively. These results indicate that real-time PCR on blowhole swabs may be used as a non-invasive test for rapid detection of Brucella spp. in the respiratory tract of dolphins. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the use of blowhole swabs for detection of bacterial pathogens by real-time PCR in bottlenose dolphins.

【 授权许可】

Unknown