Byard Roger W, Tomo Ikuko, Kemper Catherine M, Gibbs Susan E, Bossley Mike, Machado Aaron, Hill Mark
Discipline of Pathology, Level 3 Medical School North Building, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.
Forensic Sci Med Pathol. 2010 Sep;6(3):207-10. doi: 10.1007/s12024-010-9143-3. Epub 2010 Feb 18.
Necropsy examination of dolphins living in Gulf St Vincent, Australia is routinely undertaken to enable the evaluation of disease processes and to provide rapid medicolegal assessment of any inflicted and/or accidental injuries. Two Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) are reported to demonstrate conditions that may result in unexpected death involving upper airway compromise by quite unusual mechanisms. In the first case an adult male was found with extensive soft tissue trauma suggesting human interaction. At necropsy, death was due instead to upper airway obstruction from an impacted Slender-spined Porcupine Fish (Diodon nichthemerus) in the posterior pharynx and upper esophagus. In the second case, an adult male dolphin was found to have died, following several weeks' illness, from upper airway obstruction due to extensive respiratory tract papillomatosis within the blowhole. Given the infectious etiology of this condition the local population will be monitored for similar lesions. These cases demonstrate rare causes of upper airway obstruction in wild dolphins that were identifiable only after detailed necropsy examination. The possibility of human involvement in the deaths could be excluded.
对生活在澳大利亚圣文森特湾的海豚进行尸检是常规操作，目的是评估疾病进程，并对任何遭受的和/或意外的损伤提供快速的法医学评估。据报道，两只印太瓶鼻海豚（宽吻海豚）出现了一些状况，这些状况可能通过相当不寻常的机制导致意外死亡，涉及上呼吸道受损。在第一个案例中，发现一只成年雄性海豚有广泛的软组织创伤，表明可能与人类有过接触。尸检时发现，死亡原因是一只细长刺鲀（Diodon nichthemerus）卡在海豚的后咽部和上食道，造成上呼吸道阻塞。在第二个案例中，一只成年雄性海豚在患病数周后死亡，死因是由于气孔内广泛的呼吸道乳头状瘤病导致上呼吸道阻塞。鉴于这种情况的感染性病因，将对当地海豚种群进行监测，查看是否有类似病变。这些案例表明，野生海豚上呼吸道阻塞的罕见原因只有在详细的尸检后才能确定。可以排除人类导致这些海豚死亡的可能性。
