Emerging Infectious Diseases (Dec 2023)

Molecular Detection and Characterization of Mycoplasma spp. in Marine Mammals, Brazil

  • Aricia Duarte-Benvenuto,
  • Carlos Sacristán,
  • Ana Carolina Ewbank,
  • Roberta Zamana-Ramblas,
  • Henrique Christino Lial,
  • Samira Costa Silva,
  • Maria Alejandra Arias Lugo,
  • Lara B. Keid,
  • Caroline F. Pessi,
  • José Rubens Sabbadini,
  • Vanessa L. Ribeiro,
  • Rodrigo del Rio do Valle,
  • Carolina Pacheco Bertozzi,
  • Adriana Castaldo Colosio,
  • Hernani da Cunha Gomes Ramos,
  • Angélica María Sánchez-Sarmiento,
  • Raquel Beneton Ferioli,
  • Larissa Pavanelli,
  • Joana Midori Penalva Ikeda,
  • Vitor L. Carvalho,
  • Felipe Alexandre Catardo Gonçalves,
  • Pablo Ibáñez-Porras,
  • Irene Sacristán,
  • José Luiz Catão-Dias

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2912.230903
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 29, no. 12
pp. 2471 – 2481

Abstract

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Mycoplasma spp. are wall-less bacteria able to infect mammals and are classified as hemotropic (hemoplasma) and nonhemotropic. In aquatic mammals, hemoplasma have been reported in California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) and river dolphins (Inia spp.). We investigated Mycoplasma spp. in blood samples of West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus), pinnipeds (5 species), and marine cetaceans (18 species) that stranded or were undergoing rehabilitation in Brazil during 2002–2022. We detected Mycoplasma in blood of 18/130 (14.8%) cetaceans and 3/18 (16.6%) pinnipeds. All tested manatees were PCR-negative for Mycoplasma. Our findings indicate that >2 different hemoplasma species are circulating in cetaceans. The sequences from pinnipeds were similar to previously described sequences. We also detected a nonhemotropic Mycoplasma in 2 Franciscana dolphins (Pontoporia blainvillei) that might be associated with microscopic lesions. Because certain hemoplasmas can cause disease and death in immunosuppressed mammals, the bacteria could have conservation implications for already endangered aquatic mammals.

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