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Be a Marine Mammal Hero Year-Round

It’s pupping season and that means pups will be pouring through our hospital doors in need of meals and meds. But did you know you can help not only during pupping season, but year-round?

Yes, as a monthly donor, you will help provide fish meals, meds and care for a marine mammal like Magoo so they can regain their strength and return to their ocean home. Then the next month, you will help another patient. And the next month? You will make it possible again!

Plus, new monthly gifts will be matched up to $1,000 when you sign up by Sunday, February 23.

Be a hero year-round
harbor seal, magoo
California sea lion eating a fish

New Technique for Diagnosing Lung Parasite Infections in Sea Lions

A novel quantitative real-time PCR diagnostic assay for fecal and nasal swab detection of an otariid lungworm, Parafilaroides decorus
  • Lungworm
  • Parasites
  • Diagnostics

Abstract

Parafilaroides decorus, also known as sea lion lungworm, is a metastrongyloid nematode that infects otariid hosts, such as the charismatic California sea lion, Zalophus californianus. P. decorus causes bronchointerstitial pneumonia, respiratory distress, reduced ability to swim, dive and hunt and as a result, increased mortality particularly in young animals. Respiratory disease is a leading cause of stranding and admission to rehabilitation centers on the Pacific coast. Low-coverage genomic sequencing of four P. decorus individuals analyzed through Galaxy's RepeatExplorer identified a novel repeat DNA family we employed to design a sensitive quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay for diagnosing infections from fecal or sputum samples. The assay detects as little as 10 fg of P. decorus DNA and a linear regression model developed using a standard curve can be used to estimate the concentration of P. decorus DNA in a sample, ± 0.015 ng. This knowledge can be leveraged to estimate the level of parasite burden, which can be used to design improved treatments for animals in rehabilitation. Improved treatment of infections will aid in more animals being successfully released back into the wild. 


Williams, K.M., Fessler, M.K., Bloomfield, R.A., Sandke, W.D., Malekshahi, C.R., Keroack, C.D., Duignan, P.J., Torquato, S.D. and Williams, S.A., 2020. A novel quantitative real-time PCR diagnostic assay for fecal and nasal swab detection of an otariid lungworm, Parafilaroides decorus. International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife

lungworm
parasites
diagnostics
Pádraig Duignan

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