TY - JOUR
T1 - Adrenal gland and lung lesions in Gulf of Mexico common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) found dead following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
AU - Venn-Watson, Stephanie
AU - Colegrove, Kathleen M.
AU - Litz, Jenny
AU - Kinsel, Michael
AU - Terio, Karen
AU - Saliki, Jeremiah
AU - Fire, Spencer
AU - Carmichael, Ruth
AU - Chevis, Connie
AU - Hatchett, Wendy
AU - Pitchford, Jonathan
AU - Tumlin, Mandy
AU - Field, Cara
AU - Smith, Suzanne
AU - Ewing, Ruth
AU - Fauquier, Deborah
AU - Lovewell, Gretchen
AU - Whitehead, Heidi
AU - Rotstein, David
AU - McFee, Wayne
AU - Fougeres, Erin
AU - Rowles, Teri
N1 - Funding Information:
This work could not have been conducted without the efforts of the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, including personnel from those agencies working on the current northern GoM UME: Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (especially staff from the Fisheries Research Lab in Grande Isle), Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge, and Gulf World Marine Park, as well as, Micah Brodsky, Jeremy Hartley, Michelle Kelley, Courtney Nelson Seely, Bob MacLean, and Sandi Maillian. The authors acknowledge support from the northern GoM UME Investigative Team and the past and present members of the Working Group for Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality Events. In addition, we thank the following individuals who helped coordinate stranding response, manage or validate regional stranding data, or helped by reviewing or contributing to portions of this manuscript: Laura Aichinger Dias, Laura Engleby, Sandra Horton, Blair Mase-Guthrie, Lauren Noble, Gina Rappucci, Lori Schwacke, Elizabeth Stratton, Cynthia Smith, Sabrina Stevens, and Fran Van Dolah. This work was part of the Deepwater Horizon NRDA being conducted cooperatively among NOAA, other Federal and State Trustees, and BP.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Public Library of Science. All rights reserved. This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
PY - 2015/5/20
Y1 - 2015/5/20
N2 - A northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM) cetacean unusual mortality event (UME) involving primarily bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama began in February 2010 and continued into 2014. Overlapping in time and space with this UME was the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill, which was proposed as a contributing cause of adrenal disease, lung disease, and poor health in live dolphins examined during 2011 in Barataria Bay, Louisiana. To assess potential contributing factors and causes of deaths for stranded UME dolphins from June 2010 through December 2012, lung and adrenal gland tissues were histologically evaluated from 46 fresh dead non-perinatal carcasses that stranded in Louisiana (including 22 from Barataria Bay), Mississippi, and Alabama. UME dolphins were tested for evidence of biotoxicosis, morbillivirus infection, and brucellosis. Results were compared to up to 106 fresh dead stranded dolphins from outside the UME area or prior to the DWH spill. UME dolphins were more likely to have primary bacterial pneumonia (22% compared to 2% in non-UME dolphins, P = .003) and thin adrenal cortices (33% compared to 7% in non-UME dolphins, P = .003). In 70% of UME dolphins with primary bacterial pneumonia, the condition either caused or contributed significantly to death. Brucellosis and morbillivirus infections were detected in 7% and 11% of UME dolphins, respectively, and biotoxin levels were low or below the detection limit, indicating that these were not primary causes of the current UME. The rare, life-threatening, and chronic adrenal gland and lung diseases identified in stranded UME dolphins are consistent with exposure to petroleum compounds as seen in other mammals. Exposure of dolphins to elevated petroleum compounds present in coastal GoM waters during and after the DWH oil spill is proposed as a cause of adrenal and lung disease and as a contributor to increased dolphin deaths.
AB - A northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM) cetacean unusual mortality event (UME) involving primarily bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama began in February 2010 and continued into 2014. Overlapping in time and space with this UME was the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill, which was proposed as a contributing cause of adrenal disease, lung disease, and poor health in live dolphins examined during 2011 in Barataria Bay, Louisiana. To assess potential contributing factors and causes of deaths for stranded UME dolphins from June 2010 through December 2012, lung and adrenal gland tissues were histologically evaluated from 46 fresh dead non-perinatal carcasses that stranded in Louisiana (including 22 from Barataria Bay), Mississippi, and Alabama. UME dolphins were tested for evidence of biotoxicosis, morbillivirus infection, and brucellosis. Results were compared to up to 106 fresh dead stranded dolphins from outside the UME area or prior to the DWH spill. UME dolphins were more likely to have primary bacterial pneumonia (22% compared to 2% in non-UME dolphins, P = .003) and thin adrenal cortices (33% compared to 7% in non-UME dolphins, P = .003). In 70% of UME dolphins with primary bacterial pneumonia, the condition either caused or contributed significantly to death. Brucellosis and morbillivirus infections were detected in 7% and 11% of UME dolphins, respectively, and biotoxin levels were low or below the detection limit, indicating that these were not primary causes of the current UME. The rare, life-threatening, and chronic adrenal gland and lung diseases identified in stranded UME dolphins are consistent with exposure to petroleum compounds as seen in other mammals. Exposure of dolphins to elevated petroleum compounds present in coastal GoM waters during and after the DWH oil spill is proposed as a cause of adrenal and lung disease and as a contributor to increased dolphin deaths.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0126538
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0126538
M3 - Article
C2 - 25992681
AN - SCOPUS:84930615491
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 10
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 5
M1 - e0126538
ER -