“Kitty Litter Disease” Finding Its Way Into Arctic Waters Endangering Ocean Wildlife

A parasite found in the feline feces is making its way into Arctic waters, consequently threatening ocean wildlife.

A parasite found in cat feces is making its way into Arctic waters, consequently threatening ocean wildlife.

Garbage disposal has become a world-wide calamity. The tendency we have to flush garbage away with an out-of-site-out-of-mind attitude is one of the chief reasons we are struggling with water contamination today. Discovery News just released a report detailing a new parasite making its way into Arctic waters that is threatening ocean wildlife.  The 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.

Taxoplasma is the leading cause of infection-based blindness in humans.

Taxoplasma is the leading cause of infection-based blindness in humans.

Toxoplasmosis, also known as “kitty litter 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, is also 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.

Remember to dispose of kitty litter in the garbage rather than flushing it down the toilet. Making conscious decisions with our waste disposal is essential to the safety of all ecosystems on our planet.

References:

1.)  http://news.discovery.com/earth/oceans/toxic-kitty-litter-parasite-found-in-arctic-whales-140213.htm

2.)  http://news.ubc.ca/2014/02/13/bigthaw/

 

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