The first-ever case of animal tuberculosis (TB) caused by Mycobacterium bovis is described in a striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) found stranded on the coasts of Sicily, Southern Italy, in 2012. The carcass showed a typical TB granulomatous lesion in the intestine; microbiological culture on solid medium (Stonebrink) allowed to isolate colonies with the characteristic aspect of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex (MTC) members. M. bovis was identified by molecular and microbiological tests. Genotyping of the dolphin strain by spoligotyping and Multilocus Variable Number of Tandem Repeat Analysis (MLVA) showed that it was similar to isolates found in cattle herds in Sicily over the period 2008–2012, suggesting an epidemiological correlation with the dolphin case. In particular, we can hypothesise possible contamination by cattle faeces of marine environments due to seasonal rain streams and to the practice to graze animals (cattle, sheep and goats) in seaside areas.

2012 年，在意大利南部西西里岛海岸发现的一条条纹海豚 ( Stenella coeruleoalba ) 中发现了首例由牛分枝杆菌引起的动物肺结核 (TB)。尸体在肠道中显示出典型的 TB 肉芽肿病变; 固体培养基 (Stonebrink) 上的微生物培养允许分离具有结核分枝杆菌复合体 (MTC) 成员特征方面的菌落。牛分枝杆菌通过分子和微生物检测鉴定。通过 spoligotyping 和多位点可变数量串联重复分析 (MLVA) 对海豚菌株进行基因分型表明，它与 2008 年至 2012 年期间在西西里岛牛群中发现的分离株相似，这表明与海豚病例存在流行病学相关性。特别是，我们可以假设由于季节性雨水和在海边地区放牧动物（牛、绵羊和山羊）的做法，牛粪可能对海洋环境造成污染。