Toxic Kitty Litter Parasite Found in Arctic Whales

 

A parasite found in cat feces, scooped out from litter boxes and flushed down the toilet, is showing up in Arctic beluga whales in a finding that is one of the most graphic examples of the world’s changing ecosystems, scientists said.

The finding, announced Thursday, comes with a warning for Inuit residents who eat whale meat. The cat parasite, known as Toxoplasma gondii, is infectious.

Toxoplasmosis, also known as "kitty liter disease" is the leading cause of infectious blindness in humans. It can be fatal to fetuses and people and animals with compromised immune systems.

How the parasite made its way into western Arctic Belugas is no mystery, say biologists Michael Grigg and Stephen Raverty, with the University of British Columbia.

Arctic ice, once a formidable barrier for distant pathogens, is melting, allowing an unprecedented passageway between the far north and warmer climates in the lower latitudes, the scientists said at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Chicago.

"What we're seeing with the big thaw is the liberation of pathogens gaining access to vulnerable new hosts and wreaking havoc," Grigg, who also works with the U.S. National Institutes of Health, said in a statement.

The parasitic highway is open in both directions. The researchers also reported that a parasite known as Sarcocystis, previously found only in the Arctic, is responsible for killing 406 grey seals in the north Atlantic in 2012.

The new strain of the parasite, now named Sarcocystis pinnipedi, also is responsible for the deaths of an endangered Steller sea lion, seals, Hawaiian monk seals, walruses, polar and grizzly bears in Alaska and as far south as British Columbia, Grigg said.

Taken from Discovery News