Okinawa Churashima Foundation, Kunigami-Gun, Aza Ishikawa 888, Motobu-Cho, Okinawa, 905-0206, Japan.
Ryukyu Animal Medical Center, Yone 5-24, Tomigusuku, Okinawa, 901-0224, Japan.
Mycopathologia. 2020 Dec;185(6):1013-1020. doi: 10.1007/s11046-020-00501-5. Epub 2020 Oct 28.
The skin disease paracoccidioidomycosis ceti occurs in several dolphin species globally. Infection by the unculturable fungi Paracoccidioides brasilensis or other Paracoccidioides spp. results in chronic cutaneous and granulomatous lesions. In this study we used immunohistochemistry to investigate the seroprevalence of antibodies to Paracoccidioides spp. in captive dolphins from three aquaria in Japan. We had previously reported that there were serological cross-reactions for Paracoccidioides spp. with related species in the order Onygenales. We hypothesized that the degree of serological cross-reactions for Paracoccidioides spp. might be lower in areas, such as Japan, where the fungal diseases coccidiodomycosis and paracoccidiodomycosis are not endemic. Sera from 41 apparently healthy dolphins, including 20 Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (BD: Tursiops truncatus), 6 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (IPBD: Tursiops aduncus), 2 F1 generation of a cross between BD and IPBD (F1), 3 Pacific white-sided dolphins (PWD: Lagenorhynchus obliquidens), 2 pantropical spotted dolphins (PSD: Stenella attenuata), 6 false killer whales (FKW: Pseudorca crassidens), and 2 rough-toothed dolphins (RTD: Steno bredanensis) were investigated. Sera from three dolphins with paracoccidioidomycosis ceti were used as a positive control. The yeast-form cells of Paracoccidioides spp. in the cutaneous tissue sample derived from the first Japanese paracoccidioidomycosis ceti case were used as the antigen for the immunohistochemistry. Of the 41 dolphins tested, 61.0% had antibodies against Paracoccidioides spp. This indicates that dolphins of several species in Japanese aquaria have likely been exposed to the pathogen Paracoccidioides spp.
皮病球孢子菌病 ceti 发生在全球几种海豚物种中。未培养真菌巴西球孢子菌或其他球孢子菌属的感染导致慢性皮肤和肉芽肿病变。在这项研究中，我们使用免疫组织化学方法来研究来自日本三个水族馆的圈养海豚中针对球孢子菌属的抗体的血清流行率。我们之前曾报道过，在 Onygenales 目中与相关物种存在针对球孢子菌属的血清交叉反应。我们假设在真菌疾病球孢子菌病和副球孢子菌病非地方性的地区，如日本，针对球孢子菌属的血清交叉反应程度可能较低。我们从 41 只看似健康的海豚中采集了血清，包括 20 只大西洋宽吻海豚（BD：Tursiops truncatus）、6 只印太宽吻海豚（IPBD：Tursiops aduncus）、2 只 BD 和 IPBD 杂交的第一代（F1）、3 只太平洋白边海豚（PWD：Lagenorhynchus obliquidens）、2 只热带斑点海豚（PSD：Stenella attenuata）、6 只伪虎鲸（FKW：Pseudorca crassidens）和 2 只糙齿海豚（RTD：Steno bredanensis）。我们使用 3 只患有皮病球孢子菌病 ceti 的海豚的血清作为阳性对照。我们使用源自第一例日本皮病球孢子菌病 ceti 病例的皮肤组织样本中的球孢子菌属酵母样细胞作为免疫组织化学的抗原。在测试的 41 只海豚中，有 61.0%的海豚针对球孢子菌属产生了抗体。这表明日本水族馆的几种海豚物种可能已经接触过病原体球孢子菌属。
