Posted on 02/23/2006 2:22:42 PM PST by GreenFreeper
ST. LOUIS—Parasites from cat feces are causing deadly brain damage in California sea otters. A combination of toxic chemicals and herpes virus is killing off California sea lions.
And toxic algae blooms are contributing to record manatee deaths in Florida.
All of these animals live near coastlines, spending a majority of their lives in the same waters people swim and surf in. Their daily cuisines consist of the same foods we serve up in clam shacks and fine seafood restaurants.
The difference between humans and these animals, says NOAA spokesperson Paul Sandifer, is that the animals deal with the ocean conditions, good or bad, full time. People can pick and choose when to go into the water and what to eat.
As a result, marine animals, particularly mammals, play an important role as sentinel species. When one of these species gets sick or dies from something in the water, it is often a warning to humans of disease to come.
"Some of what we throw or flow into the water will return to bite us in the gluteus maximus. You can bet on it," said Sandifer, who organized a panel of marine scientists to present their work here last week at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Red tide
The red tide algae blooms that turn waters off Florida's coast rust-colored are becoming more frequent. Karenia brevis algae, responsible for red tide, produce toxins called brevetoxins, which can kill fish, sea turtles, birds, and marine mammals such as manatees.
The toxins seem to be sending more people to emergency rooms, too, said Gregory Bossart of the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution.
In 2005, 151 manatees died from exposure to brevetoxin. Post-mortem examinations revealed that the stuff was affecting their lungs.
"The animals are actually hemorrhaging into their lungs," Bossart said. "They're dying of acute toxic shock."
Airborne brevetoxins, Bossart said, can affect human respiratory systems the same way as a bad cold. A five-year study revealed that emergency room admissions for respiratory illness, including pneumonia and asthma attacks, increase by 54 percent during red tide blooms.
"While the toxin may not kill you, it will make you sick and immuno-suppressed. It may make you susceptible to other infections," Bossart said. "What's disturbing is that humans appear to respond to prolonged brevetoxin exposure in a way similar to manatees that die from it."
Bossart recently published evidence that algae blooms may be of danger to humans and marine animals even after they disappear.
Brevetoxins collect in filter-feeding shellfish. Within hours of ingesting shellfish with high levels of the toxin, humans can experience temporary neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP). Symptoms of NSP include nausea and diarrhea, dizziness, muscle aches, and tingling and numbness in the tongue, lips, throat, and extremities.
Currently, scientists only monitor shellfish during a bloom. But Bossart discovered that the concentration of brevetoxins in the water and in sea grass continued to increase months after blooms faded.
"After the bloom, the toxins persist in some of the same food items that we eat," Bossart told LiveScience.
Deadly cat poop
A deadly parasite that's the third most common cause of death due to food-borne disease in the U.S. is also killing California sea otters at a rapid rate.
Toxoplasma gondii, which causes the disease toxoplasmosis in humans, has been found in 52 percent of dead otters and 37 percent of the living.
The parasites are tiny, mysterious, and tough, said Pat Conrad of the University of California at Davis. They can invade an organism and stay dormant for years. When the opportunity presents itself, they will emerge from their dormant form and attack the animal's brain.
In otters, the parasite causes tremors, incoordination, and seizures. It is the primary cause of death in some coastal otter populations.
"Some rescued otters need to be hand fed squid, their tremors are so bad," Conrad said.
Thanks, Kitty
But, Toxoplasma gondii can only reproduce in cats, which shed the parasites in their feces. Although cats will only shed new parasites once in a lifetime, millions come out at once.
This happens on land and in kitty litter boxes, though, so how are coastal otter populations becoming infected?
Conrad says the major culprit is freshwater runoff, which washes feces from backyards, streets, and illegally dumped kitty litter into streams, rivers, and ultimately the ocean. Indeed, Conrad's studies have indicated that infection risk potential for otters living near freshwater runoff increases three times. For the otters of Morro Bay, the risk is more than nine times increased.
Cat owners should try to keep their kitties indoors and to properly dispose of kitty litter at a landfill to reduce the risk of spreading parasites, Conrad said. She also notes that eco-friendly, flushable kitty litter may contribute to the problem since sewage treatment systems do not effectively eliminate the parasite from wastewater.
Scientists estimate that up to 25 percent of the U.S. population may be infected with this same parasite, but people rarely show symptoms. If they do, it might just appear as a flu-like illness.
Pregnant women infected with the parasite can pass it on to their developing babies, increasing the chance of an abortion or miscarriage. If a baby survives, it could have severe brain damage that may or may not be evident at birth.
Of the infected otters, 72 percent harbor a parasite strain not seen often in humans. Otters cannot pass the parasite to humans, but because of their chronic exposure, they act as an early warning for people.
Sea lion cancer
For California sea lions, a combination of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and herpes virus similar to the one that infects humans has led to an increase in cancer.
Over the past 15 years, 17 percent of dead and stranded sea lions have been diagnosed with urogenital cancer, striking females in the cervix and males in the penis and prostate.
The cancer spreads to other organ systems in sea lions the same as in humans. Eventually it erodes the spinal cord, paralyzing them and causing them to wash up on the shore or strand in the open water, said Frances Gulland of the Marine Mammal Center.
Many adult sea lions also have the herpes virus—up to 43 percent of males and 23 percent of females. The higher rate for males is because it is a sexually transmitted disease, Gulland said, and males have more sexual partners.
But, since some herpes-infected animals are without cancer, Gulland suspects that POPs, which can cause cancer on their own, are teaming up with the virus to increase cancer rates.
While POPs are in the water, sea lions are exposed to them mainly through the food they eat, in which the toxic chemicals accumulate.
"These are top level predators," Gulland said. "Like us, they eat anchovies, squid, salmon, and mussels—they are sentinels for human health because they share our ecosystems and prey. We may see impacts in sea lions before people—they could be an early warning."
Check this one out...
LOL!
The more I'm around dogs, the more I love my cats.
The environmentalists are using this as a way to levy even more control over those of us who live in 'watersheds'.
Its old news for the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary.
This one is up there with "apples cause cancer."
The scientific statements and conclusions in this report, and I use those phrases tongue in cheek, could only be accepted by someone in the nuthouse with hair on his palms.
If this passes as God's truth in California and is used to establish public policy, I guess the apes are running the monkey house, for sure. And California is worse off than when I left.
Which brings me to this serious question: Why the hell are we allowing left wing nuts to occupy the warm, temperate locations on the west coast?
ps - how ya been, hedgetrimmer?
"Why couldn't these little sickos catch toxoplasmosis or something?'
The problem, of course, is that your Boston Terriers weren't swimming in the Pacific Ocean when the cats shed parasites once in a lifetime.
You might want to check the "Cats Crap Parasites Once in a Lifetime" Calendar to determine release times.
Here in the Midwest we ring the church bells, gather up all the children and old folks and burn smudge pots to ward off that once a lifetime when cats crap. So far we're okay, except for a dead daschund.
If you can't find the above mentioned cat calendar, scrape up all sand within a 50 mile radius to reduce the chances of infestation. But if you have no otters, you're safe.
Hope this helps.
Really, my Rot's would eat your cats.......
They'd leave the poo....
This just doesn't pass the sniff test. This pathogen is found worldwide. So how can the author substantiate that the only place Toxoplasma gondii reproduces is in housecats? Can the author substantiate that this is an introduced pathogen? If not, how is this situation any different than infecting bobcats or mountain lions? All of which begs the question:
How does a microscopic pathogen that cannot reproduce in the secondary host cause fatal damage when the count in seawater from landbased runoff from cat boxes is subject to such massive dilution? It's preposterous.
The biggest cause of otter losses are sharks. The second biggest in Monterey Bay are recently reintroduced bald eagles, which pick the pups right out of the water (you should see the screaming matches between the otter people and the bird people). Oh, but they don't mention that; it's your cat box. BTW, the current population of otters is within 10% of the highest it's been since 1900 (BTW, the authors of the article I cited question the validity of claims that the otter population is declining at all; I'd offer quotes but the file is a scanned image, not text, and I don't want to type it all; it's good research, but the writeup needs better graphical work).
A combination of toxic chemicals and herpes virus is killing off California sea lions.
However possible some of the claims in this article may be, there may well be more sea lions in California now than there were at the time of Cabrillo, simply because humans have killed their primary predators: Great White Sharks, Grizzly Bears, and Coastanoan Indians. Nobody knows what the pre-Columbian population of pinnipeds really was.
But, since some herpes-infected animals are without cancer, Gulland suspects that POPs, which can cause cancer on their own, are teaming up with the virus to increase cancer rates.
Pretty thin stuff. This looks to me like shilling for money under the MMPA.
I was just going to write exactly what you did except use "ridiculous" instead of "preposterous."
You got a quicker keyboard than me.
:-)
The only other matter I object to is that Conrad didn't include a single otter recipe.
Like this one: "sergeantdave's Apparent Otter Barbeque"
Here's the first three lines of the recipe:
Find cat.
Find otter.
Find ocean
"Really, my Rot's would eat your cats....... "
Taking on both at the same time? Your Rot may get a good chunk of one ... but not without a substantial fight while the other is shredding his 'nads. :-)
I'm such an ignorant hick. I didn't know there was any such thing.
The otters and sea lions never infect other animals with anything? They poop and share their parasites with swimmers and fish...
Rot's were plural....there are two....
Not that I'd let them so your kitties are safe....
Besides, the cats would run up a tree, the Rot's would bark for a while and eventually lose interest....
and then they have the nerve to turn up their noses at the dogfood you buy them...
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