Abstract

Septicemia is commonly suspected in sea turtles entering rehabilitation. However, blood culture results of green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) are infrequently reported in the literature.^1-3 Aerobic blood cultures were performed for intake examinations of 167 green sea turtles undergoing rehabilitation at Brevard Zoo’s Sea Turtle Healing Center, Melbourne, Florida, USA, from 2017 to 2020. The incidence of positive cultures during intake examinations was 24% (40/167). The most common bacterial isolates identified were Vibrio alginolyticus, Shewanella algae, Achromobacter xylosoxidans, Photobacterium damselae, Sphingomonas paucimobilis, and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. There was a statistically significant association (p<0.05) between culture status and evidence of external injury and year. There was no significant association between culture status and Caryospora-like coccidia infection or fibropapillomatosis. Intake culture-positive turtles had significantly lower (p<0.05) total white blood cell, lymphocyte, monocyte, total protein, albumin, and calculated globulin values compared to turtles with negative intake blood cultures. Significantly more culture-positive turtles died in rehabilitation compared to culture-negative, although there was no association between overall outcome and culture status. Positive blood cultures suggestive of septicemia are commonly found during intake examinations at a Florida sea turtle rehabilitation facility.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the following: Sea Turtle Healing Center staff, Shanon Gann and Jessica Patterson, for their assistance with the care of the turtles; Sea Turtle Healing Center volunteers for daily husbandry care of the turtles; and Steward Medical Reference lab in Melbourne, Florida, for performing the blood cultures and plasma chemistry analyses. All sea turtle rehabilitation activities were conducted under Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission permit MTP-206.

*Presenting author
+Student presenter

Literature Cited

1.  Cruciani B, Shneider F, Ciccione S, et al. Management of polyarthritis affecting sea turtles at Kélonia, the Reunion Island Sea Turtle Observatory (2013–2017). J Wild Dis. 2019;55(2):455–461.

2.  Glazebrook JS, Campbell RSF, Thomas AT. Studies on an ulcerative stomatitis-obstructive rhinitis-pneumonia disease complex in hatchling and juvenile sea turtles Chelonia mydas and Caretta caretta. Dis Aquat Organ. 1993;16(2):133-147.

3.  Work TM, Balazs GH, Wolcott M, Morris R. Bacteraemia in free-ranging Hawaiian green turtles Chelonia mydas with fibropapillomatosis. Dis Aquat Organ. 2003;53(1):41–46.