000168515 001__ 168515 000168515 005__ 20260209162330.0 000168515 0247_ $$2doi$$a10.1155/tbed/2075116 000168515 0248_ $$2sideral$$a147932 000168515 037__ $$aART-2026-147932 000168515 041__ $$aeng 000168515 100__ $$aVargas-Castro, Ignacio 000168515 245__ $$aTowards Integrated Surveillance of Marine Brucellosis: Diagnostic and Phylogenetic Assessment of Brucella ceti in Stranded Dolphins of the Western Mediterranean Sea 000168515 260__ $$c2026 000168515 5060_ $$aAccess copy available to the general public$$fUnrestricted 000168515 5203_ $$aReports of brucellosis in free-ranging cetaceans are increasing worldwide, particularly in the Mediterranean Sea. To enhance diagnostic accuracy and epidemiological understanding of cetacean brucellosis in the Western Mediterranean Sea, we analyzed bacteriological, serological, and molecular data from 30 cetaceans belonging to three different species stranded along the coast of the Valencian Community (Spain) between 2011 and 2021. Brucella ceti infection was confirmed by bacteriological isolation in 14 animals (46.7%) and by genus-specific qPCR in 15 cases (50%), with some discrepancies between methods. When feasible, serological analyses were performed using a commercial blocking ELISA (bELISA) and/or the Rose Bengal agglutination test (RBT). In the absence of ELISA tests properly validated for its use in marine mammals, we assessed the optimum dilution and cut-off of this ELISA kit using panels of gold-standard sera from culture-positive and brucellosis-free dolphins. From a pathological perspective, 12 infected animals showed moderate to severe meningoencephalitis or meningoencephalomyelitis with lymphoplasmacytic infiltration. Additionally, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) enabled the identification of two sequence types (STs), ST26 and ST49, indicating phylogenetic divergence. Our findings provide new insights into the phylogenetics of B. ceti and highlight the particular susceptibility of striped dolphins to this bacterium. The study also evidences the need for proper validation of the indirect diagnostic methods used for surveillance and seroepidemiological studies of brucellosis in marine mammals. 000168515 536__ $$9info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/AEI/RYC2022-0380603-I$$9info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/A21-23R 000168515 540__ $$9info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess$$aby$$uhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.es 000168515 655_4 $$ainfo:eu-repo/semantics/article$$vinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 000168515 700__ $$0(orcid)0000-0002-4127-234X$$aAndrés-Barranco, Sara$$uUniversidad de Zaragoza 000168515 700__ $$aCrespo-Picazo, José Luis 000168515 700__ $$aTorre-Fuentes, Laura 000168515 700__ $$aJiménez-Martínez, Mª Ángeles 000168515 700__ $$aHernández, Marta 000168515 700__ $$aArbelo, Manuel 000168515 700__ $$aÁlvarez, Julio 000168515 700__ $$0(orcid)0000-0002-7970-4929$$aMuñoz, Pilar María 000168515 700__ $$aMarco-Cabedo, Vicente 000168515 700__ $$aMiguel López, María Jesús de 000168515 700__ $$aLópez, Débora 000168515 700__ $$aMuñoz-Baquero, Marta 000168515 700__ $$aGarcía-Párraga, Daniel 000168515 700__ $$aBarasona, José Ángel 000168515 7102_ $$11009$$2773$$aUniversidad de Zaragoza$$bDpto. Patología Animal$$cÁrea Sanidad Animal 000168515 773__ $$g(2026), [15 pp.]$$pTransboundary and Emerging Diseases$$tTransboundary and Emerging Diseases$$x1865-1674 000168515 8564_ $$s2118958$$uhttps://zaguan.unizar.es/record/168515/files/texto_completo.pdf$$yVersión publicada 000168515 8564_ $$s2260687$$uhttps://zaguan.unizar.es/record/168515/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon$$xicon$$yVersión publicada 000168515 909CO $$ooai:zaguan.unizar.es:168515$$particulos$$pdriver 000168515 951__ $$a2026-02-09-14:42:33 000168515 980__ $$aARTICLE