Vibrio parahaemolyticus, a Climate Change Indicator in Alaska Marine Mammals

Since 1999, the Alaska SeaLife Center has routinely screened live marine animals found in distress, and those found dead, for fecal pathogens (e.g., Salmonella, E. coli 0157, Campylobacter, Vibrio spp.) and exposure to a variety of diseases known to affect marine mammals and/ or humans (e.g., Brucella, Morbillivirus, Leptospirosis, Herpesvirus). Additionally, projects investigating wild populations screen live cap042 Goertz et al.—V. parahaemolyticus, a Climate Change Indicator tured animals and subsistence harvested animals for the same conditions circulating in wild populations. One fecal pathogen in particular, Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Vp), is considered an indicator of climate change as this organism proliferates only in waters with temperatures higher than 15°C. The State of Alaska began screening oysters for Vp in 1995, but did not detect Vp until summer 2004 when the first human outbreak of Vp-associated gastroenteritis was documented, involving 62 people who consumed raw oysters from Prince William Sound. Since then, marine mammal researchers on stranding and live capture projects have found Vp, including isolates with known pathogenicity factors, in several (17 stranded, 2 live captured, 1 subsistence) northern sea otters (Enhydra lutris kenyoni), a harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), and a beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas). The positive Vp isolates found in Seward, Cook Inlet, Kachemak Bay, Kodiak, and Dillingham represent the first reports of the bacteria in those areas.