Broadening disease surveillance to include wild dolphins and killer whales: novel components of One Health

Abstract We describe a minimally invasive pilot study to characterize the microbiota of exhaled breath from wild Pacific white-sided dolphins. Samples were collected in a site that is far from any agriculture facilities or large human settlements but home to a high concentration of open-net aquaculture facilities for Atlantic salmon. This case study in pathogen surveillance in wild dolphins reveals a wide diversity of pathogens, including several with the potential to cross species and infect critically endangered killer whales, or humans. Common species are often neglected in funding strategies that prioritize species at imminent risk of extinction, but they may be a top priority for disease surveillance. One important cobenefit of integrating biodiversity monitoring in a One Health framework may be to support monitoring of both abundance and zoonotic potential of common species whose biomass alone makes them key players in ecosystem function.