Dear colleagues, We need your help. We are pleased to announce a new publication on marine mammal disease, "Cutaneous Granulomas in Dolphins Caused by Novel Uncultivated Paracoccidioides brasiliensis" in Emerging Infectious Diseases (abstract below). In addition, we are seeking unpublished reports and tissue samples from cetaceans with similar cutaneous fungal granulomas globally to continue this important research. The team welcomes collaboration from researchers worldwide. Vilela R, Bossart GD, St. Leger JA, Dalton LM, Reif JS, Schaefer AM, Fair PA, Mendoza L. (2016). A novel uncultivated Paracoccidioides brasiliensis type is the etiologic agent of cutaneous granulomas in dolphins. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 22:2097-2103. Abstract Cutaneous granulomas in dolphins were believed to be caused by Lacazia loboi, which also causes a similar disease in humans. This hypothesis was recently challenged by reports that fungal DNA sequences from dolphins grouped this pathogen with Paracoccidioides brasiliensis. We conducted phylogenetic analysis of fungi from 6 bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) with cutaneous granulomas and chains of yeast cells in infected tissues. Kex gene sequences of P. brasiliensis from dolphins showed 100% homology with sequences from cultivated P. brasiliensis, 73% with those of L. loboi, and 93% with those of P. lutzii. Parsimony analysis placed DNA sequences from dolphins within a cluster with human P. brasiliensis strains. This cluster was the sister taxon to P. lutzii and L. loboi. Our molecular data support previous findings and suggest that a novel uncultivated strain of P. brasiliensis restricted to cutaneous lesions in dolphins is probably the cause of lacaziosis/lobomycosis, herein referred to as paracoccidioidomycosis ceti. Please contact: Adam M. Schaefer, MPH Wildlife Epidemiology and Population Health, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University e-mail: aschaef3@fau.edu<mailto:aschaef3@fau.edu> Adam M. Schaefer, MPH Epidemiologist Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University 5600 US 1 North, Ft. Pierce, FL 34946 office: 772-242-2311 Ocean Science for a Better World