Epidemiological pattern of tattoo skin disease: a potential general health indicator for cetaceans.
The presence of tattoo skin disease (TSD) was examined in 1392 free-ranging and dead odontocetes comprising 17 species from the Americas, Europe, South Africa, New Zealand and Greenland. We investigated whether TSD prevalence varied with sex, age and health status. TSD was encountered in cetaceans from the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans as well as in those from the North, Mediterranean and Tasman Seas. No clear patterns related to geography and host phylogeny were detected, except that prevalence of TSD in juveniles and, in 2 species (dusky dolphin Lagenorhynchus obscurus and Burmeister's porpoise Phocoena spinipinnis), in adults was remarkably high in samples from Peru. Environmental factors and virus properties may be responsible for this finding. Sex did not significantly influence TSD prevalence except in the case of Peruvian P. spinipinnis. Generally, there was a pattern of TSD increase in juveniles compared to calves, attributed to the loss of maternal immunity. Also, in most samples, juveniles seemed to have a higher probability of suffering TSD than adults, presumably because more adults had acquired active immunity following infection. This holo-endemic pattern was inverted in poor health short-beaked common dolphins Delphinus delphis and harbour porpoises Phocoena phocoena from the British Isles, and in Chilean dolphins Cephalorhynchus eutropia from Patagonia, where adults showed a higher TSD prevalence than juveniles. Very large tattoos were seen in some adult odontocetes from the SE Pacific, NE Atlantic and Portugal's Sado Estuary, which suggest impaired immune response. The epidemiological pattern of TSD may be an indicator of cetacean population health.
Van Bressem
Marie-Françoise
MF
Cetacean Conservation Medicine Group, CEPEC, Museo de Delfines, Pucusana, Lima 20, Peru. mfb.cmed@gmail.com
Van Waerebeek
Koen
K
Aznar
Francisco Javier
FJ
Raga
Juan Antonio
JA
Jepson
Paul D
PD
Duignan
Pádraig
P
Deaville
Rob
R
Flach
Leonardo
L
Viddi
Francisco
F
Baker
John R
JR
Di Beneditto
Ana Paula
AP
Echegaray
Mónica
M
Genovo
Tilen
T
Reyes
Julio
J
Felix
Fernando
F
Gaspar
Raquel
R
Ramos
Renata
R
Peddemors
Vic
V
Sanino
Gian Paolo
GP
Siebert
Ursula
U
D017677:Age Distribution; D000820:Animal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D000818:Animals; D002591:Cetacea / Q000502:physiology*; D018147:Chordopoxvirinae / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D011213:Poxviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology