Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Emergence of the Zoonotic Biliary Trematode Pseudamphistomum truncatum in Grey Seals (Halichoerus grypus) in the Baltic Sea
Department of Pathology and Wildlife Diseases, National Veterinary Institute, Uppsala, Sweden.
Swedish Museum of Natural History, Department of Environmental research and monitoring.
Swedish Museum of Natural History, Department of Environmental research and monitoring.
Swedish Museum of Natural History, Department of Environmental research and monitoring.
Show others and affiliations
2016 (English)In: PLOS ONE, E-ISSN 1932-6203, Vol. 11, no 10, p. e0164782-Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The biliary trematode Pseudamphistomum truncatum parasitizes a wide range of fish-eating mammals, including humans. Here we report the emergence of this parasite in grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) in the Baltic Sea. One hundred eighty-three of 1 554 grey seals (11.9%) examined from 2002–2013 had detectable hepatobiliary trematode infection. Parasite identification was confirmed as P. truncatum by sequencing the ITS2 region of a pool of five to 10 trematodes from each of ten seals collected off the coast of seven different Swedish counties. The proportion of seals parasitized by P. truncatum increased significantly over time and with increasing age of seals. Males were 3.1 times more likely to be parasitized than females and animals killed in fishery interactions were less likely to be parasitized than animals found dead or hunted. There was no significant difference in parasitism of seals examined from the Gulf of Bothnia versus those examined from the Baltic Proper. Although the majority of infections were mild, P. truncatum can cause severe hepatobiliary disease and resulted in liver failure in at least one seal. Because cyprinid fish are the second intermediate host for opisthorchiid trematodes, diets of grey seals from the Baltic Sea were analysed regarding presence of cyprinids. The proportion of gastrointestinal tracts containing cyprinid remains was ten times higher in seals examined from 2008 to 2013 (12.2%) than those examined from 2002 to 2007 (1.2%) and coincided with a general increase of trematode parasitism in the host population. The emergence and relatively common occurrence of P. truncatum in grey seals signals the presence of this parasite in the Baltic Sea ecosystem and demonstrates how aquatic mammals can serve as excellent sentinels of marine ecosystem change. Investigation of drivers behind P. truncatum emergence and infection risk for other mammals, including humans, is highly warranted.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2016. Vol. 11, no 10, p. e0164782-
Keywords [en]
Seals, Parasitic diseases, Trematodes, Baltic Sea, Parasitism, Host-pathogen interactions, Gastrointestinal tract, Predation
National Category
Biological Sciences
Research subject
Man and the environment
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:nrm:diva-1864DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0164782OAI: oai:DiVA.org:nrm-1864DiVA, id: diva2:1040517
Projects
Patologi hos säl
Funder
Swedish Environmental Protection AgencyAvailable from: 2016-10-27 Created: 2016-10-27 Last updated: 2021-06-14Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(1843 kB)159 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 1843 kBChecksum SHA-512
60a460f756a7ed36a0a50aae6c0def5aecdfbb185c1fc0e939995cdcbb84cf9948774f174ff4b9dba9c5d3a75d5a9ad3e0fe4603959c3c32e6f477445435ce47
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

Other links

Publisher's full texthttp://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0164782
By organisation
Department of Environmental research and monitoring
In the same journal
PLOS ONE
Biological Sciences

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 159 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 129 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf