Source: UNIV OF CALIFORNIA (VET-MED) submitted to NRP
MARINE WILDLIFE VETERINARY CARE AND RESEARCH
Sponsoring Institution
Cooperating Schools of Veterinary Medicine
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
STATE
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0213214
Grant No.
(N/A)
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jan 1, 2006
Project End Date
Jun 30, 2008
Grant Year
(N/A)
Program Code
[(N/A)]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
UNIV OF CALIFORNIA (VET-MED)
(N/A)
DAVIS,CA 95616
Performing Department
CA ANIMAL HEALTH & FOOD SAFETY LAB SYSTEM (CAHFS)
Non Technical Summary
This project is in collaboration with the Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center in Santa Cruz, CA (MWVCRC). a significant portion of MWVCRC's mission is to complete top quality postmortem examinations on marine wildlife species in California as well as to determine patterns of mortality for hospitalized animals during oil spill events. In order to complete these tasks, MWVCRC requires the services of laboratories specialized in histology and microbiology.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
3110899103010%
3110899104020%
3110899109010%
3110899110010%
3110899110110%
3110899111010%
3110899115010%
3110899116010%
3110899117010%
Knowledge Area
311 - Animal Diseases;

Subject Of Investigation
0899 - Wildlife and natural fisheries, general/other;

Field Of Science
1040 - Molecular biology; 1090 - Immunology; 1101 - Virology; 1030 - Cellular biology; 1160 - Pathology; 1100 - Bacteriology; 1110 - Parasitology; 1150 - Toxicology; 1170 - Epidemiology;
Goals / Objectives
This project is in collaboration with the Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center in Santa Cruz, CA (MWVCRC). This service provides MWVCRC with continuous access to cutting edge technical experitise in histology and diagnostic microbiology.
Project Methods
1. To process tissues from up to 60 necropsy cases marked as "S" cases for paraffin histology. 2. To complete expedited tissue processing of up to 15 "Stat" cases per year, for MWVCRC accessions with potential "herd health" or zoonotic disease implications. 3. To process tissues, swabs or agar plates collected from the freshest of the 60 fresh necropsy cases listed above for bacterial or fungal culture.

Progress 01/01/06 to 06/30/08

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Sea otter necropsies have been ongoing at the Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care Center in Santa Cruz, with samples sent to the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital for diagnostic workup and screening for a variety of pathogens including Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Vibrio species. Additionally, fresh fecal samples from sea otters in the wild have been sent regularly to the VMTH for pathogen screening as well. PARTICIPANTS: Not relevant to this project. TARGET AUDIENCES: Not relevant to this project. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.

Impacts
The service agreement between the Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center and the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital has led to a number of research collaborations that have resulted in student projects as well as publications.

Publications

  • Miller, M.A., W.A. Miller, P.A. Conrad, E.R. James, A.C. Melli, C.M. Leutenegger, H.A. Dabritz, A.E. Packham, M. Harris, Jack Ames, D.A. Jessup, Karen Worcester and M. E. Grigg, 2008. Type X Toxoplasma gondii in a wild mussel and terrestrial carnivores from coastal California: New linkages between terrestrial mammals, runoff and toxoplasmosis of sea otters. International Journal for Parasitology 38: 1319-1328.
  • Miller, M.A., B.A. Byrne, S.S. Jang, E.M. Dodd, E. Dorfmeier, M.D. Harris, J. Ames, D. Paradies, K. Worcester, D.A. Jessup and W.A. Miller, 2008. Enteric bacterial pathogen detection in southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) is associated with coastal urbanization and freshwater runoff. Veterinary Research, In Press.