Journal Article
Brucella sp. sequence-type 27 associated with abortion in dwarf sperm whale Kogia sima
Gabriela Hernández-Mora; Rocío González-Barrientos; Eunice Víquez-Ruíz; José David Palacios-Alfaro; Gianmarco Bettoni-Rodríguez; Marlène Gendre; Charline Vincent; Karol Roca-Monge; Nazareth Ruiz-Villalobos; Marcela Suárez-Esquivel; Minor Cordero-Chavarría; Esteban Chaves-Olarte; Nicholas R. Thomson; Elías Barquero-Calvo; Edgardo Moreno; Caterina Guzmán-Verri
European Journal of Wildlife Research · Vol. 67, Issue 4 · 2021
Abstract
A dwarf sperm whale Kogia sima stranded alive along the Central Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. The whale, handled by tourists and local inhabitants, was weak, had buoyancy difficulties, and eventually aborted and died, showing severe necrotizing placentitis and other pathological signs. Both the mother and the fetus had antibodies against Brucella lipopolysaccharide. Brucella organisms were isolated from various tissues of both animals and were characterized. The bacterium genome corresponded to sequence-type 27 (ST27) and clustered together with other Brucella ST27 isolated in humans and cetaceans.