COCCIDIOIDOMYCOSIS AND OTHER SYSTEMIC MYCOSES OF MARINE MAMMALS STRANDING ALONG THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA, USA COAST: 1998-2012

Abstract A wide range of systemic mycoses have been reported from captive and wild marine mammals from North America. Examples include regionally endemic pathogens such as Coccidioides and Blastomyces spp., and novel pathogens like Cryptococcus gattii, which appear may have been introduced to North America by humans. Stranding and necropsy data were analyzed from three marine mammal stranding and response facilities on the central California coast to assess the prevalence, host demographics, and lesion distribution of systemic mycoses affecting locally endemic marine mammals. Between 1 January 1998 and 30 June 2012, >7,000 stranded marine mammals were necropsied at the three facilities. Necropsy and histopathology records were reviewed to identify cases of locally invasive or systemic mycoses and determine the nature and distribution of fungal lesions. Forty-one animals (0.6%) exhibited cytological, culture- or histologically confirmed locally invasive or systemic mycoses: 36 had coccidioidomycosis, two h...