Age-dependent prevalence of anti-Brucella antibodies in hooded seals Cystophora cristata

Diseases of Aquatic Organisms

Rolf Rødven¹  ,, Jacques Godfroid¹  ,, Geoffrey Foster¹  ,, Anne Kirstine Frie¹  ,, Morten Tryland¹  ,¹  ,, Tore Haug¹  Ingebjørg H. Nymo¹ 

关键词: Pinniped;    Pups;    Brucellosis;    Serostatus;    Bacteriology;    Infection clearance;    Atlantic hooded seal stock;    Food web;   

DOI  :  10.3354/dao02659

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Inter-Research

【 摘 要 】

ABSTRACT: Investigations of hooded seals Cystophora cristata have revealed high prevalences of Brucella-positive seals in the reduced Northeast Atlantic stock, compared to the increasing Northwest Atlantic stock. This study evaluated the relation between Brucella-serostatus in seals in the Northeast Atlantic stock and age, sex, body condition and reproduction. Bacteriology documented which animals and organs were B. pinnipedialis positive. No relationship was observed between Brucella-serostatus and body condition or reproductive traits. Pups (<1 mo old) had a substantially lower probability of being seropositive (4/159, 2.5%) than yearlings (6/17, 35.3%), suggesting that exposure may occur post-weaning, during the first year of life. For seals >1 yr old, the mean probability of being seropositive decreased with age, with no seropositives older than 5 yr, indicating loss of antibody titre with either chronicity or clearance of infection. The latter explanation seems to be most likely as B. pinnipedialis has never been isolated from a hooded seal >18 mo old, which is consistent with findings in this study; B. pinnipedialis was isolated from the retropharyngeal lymph node in 1 seropositive yearling (1/21, 5%). We hypothesize that this serological and bacteriological pattern is due to environmental exposure to B. pinnipedialis early in life, with a subsequent clearance of infection. This raises the question of a reservoir of B. pinnipedialis in the hooded seal food web.

【 授权许可】

Unknown