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1 January 2004 Struvite Calculus in the Vagina of a Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)
Wayne E. McFee, Carl A. Osborne
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Abstract

On 27 January 2000, a struvite calculus was observed in the vagina during necropsy of a 138-cm-long female bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) collected from the Stono River, South Carolina (USA). Vaginal calculi have been reported in other species of cetaceans but not in bottlenose dolphins. Urinary tract infection might have been an underlying cause of the calculus. While urinary tract inflammation was not detected by light microscopic evaluation of sections of the urinary tract, it is conceivable that sufficient time had lapsed following voiding of the calculus through the urethra for urinary tract infection to have resolved. To further define the prevalence and significance of urolithiasis, prosectors of dead stranded marine mammals are encouraged to closely observe their urinary and genital tracts for calculi and to submit them for quantitative analysis.

McFee and Osborne: Struvite Calculus in the Vagina of a Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)
Wayne E. McFee and Carl A. Osborne "Struvite Calculus in the Vagina of a Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)," Journal of Wildlife Diseases 40(1), 125-128, (1 January 2004). https://doi.org/10.7589/0090-3558-40.1.125
Received: 21 January 2003; Published: 1 January 2004
KEYWORDS
bottlenose dolphins
case report
struvite
Tursiops truncatus
vaginal calculus
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