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  • Published on: 6 April 2023
    Micro-nanoplastics as carriers of Toxoplasma gondii and other protozoa in the open sea: Impacts to cetacean health and conservation
    • Giovanni Di Guardo, Retired Professor of General Pathology and Veterinary Pathophysiology University of Teramo, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Località Piano d'Accio, 64100 Teramo, Italy

    Six years ago, Dr James T. Carlton and coworkers reported an unprecedented, tsunami-driven, transoceanic spread of marine organisms following the dramatic earthquake occurred in March 2011 in Eastern Japan (1). This really impressive spread of living organisms was greatly enhanced by micro-nanoplastics, which likely acted as “rafts” for them (1). Among the large number of (mostly) invertebrate species
    affected by the aforementioned phenomenon, special emphasis should be also placed upon microbial pathogens, some of which are known to impact the health and conservation of free-ranging cetaceans (2). A paradigmatic example in this direction is represented by Toxoplasma gondii, a protozoan and zoonotic agent of major concern (3), which may also infect striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba), with subsequent development of severe brain lesions leading to stranding and death (4).
    Although a general consensus seems to exist on a land-to-sea flow as the most plausible mechanism through which T. gondii oocysts, similarly to other oro-fecally transmitted microorganisms, may gain access to the marine environment (2), this becomes questionable when dealing with striped dolphins and other T. gondii-susceptible species of aquatic mammals living in the open sea (5). In other words, how striped dolphins and other pelagic cetaceans may acquire T. gondii infection is still far from being understood. Consequently, among the different hypotheses drawn to explain this phenomenon,...

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    Conflict of Interest:
    None declared.