Novel Presentation of Coccidioidomycosis (Valley Fever) in a Southern Sea Otter
- Infectious disease
- Climate change
Abstract
A southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) stranded dead in central California, USA, with a distended pericardial sac containing thousands of free-floating proteinaceous masses. Serology, fungal culture, PCR, and sequencing confirmed the etiology of this novel lesion as Coccidioides immitis. Range expansion of this zoonotic pathogen is predicted with climate change.
Harris, H.S., Harris, M.D., Thompson III, G.R., Engelthaler, D.M., Montfort, P.L., Leviner, A.L. and Miller, M.A., 2023. Novel Presentation of Coccidioidomycosis with Myriad Free-Floating Proteinaceous Spheres in the Pericardial Sac of a Southern Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris nereis). Journal of Wildlife Diseases.
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{"image":"\/People\/Portrait\/cropped-images\/heather-harris-2026-0-309-1270-992-1790201384.png","alt":"Heather Harris","title":"Heather S. Harris","text":"Associate Veterinarian","link_url":"https:\/\/www.marinemammalcenter.org\/person\/heather-harris","link_text":"Read Bio"}
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