Dean F. Ewing
A female Atlantic bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) developed raised round nodules which progressed to lesions with necrotic centers covering a large part of the skin surface.
In spite of broad spectrum antibiotic therapy, her general well-being continued poor, feeding intermittent, and progressive respiratory distress was noted prior to the time of death.
In addition to the skin lesions, postmortem revealed severe pulmonary lesions including green pus in the lungs, a similar inflammatory exudate in the bronchiolar spaces and fluid in the pericardial sac. Diagnosis was "severe acute multifocal ulcerative dermatitis" and "severe acute multifocal suppurative bronchopneumonia". Pseudomonas aeruginosa, cultured from the lungs, was found to be highly resistant to those antibiotics normally used in clinical treatment of dolphin infective conditions.