Vargas Castro, IgnacioAndrés-Barranco, SaraCrespo-Picazo, José LuisTorre Fuentes, LauraJiménez Martínez, María de los ÁngelesHernández, MartaArbelo, ManuelÁlvarez Sánchez, JulioMuñoz, Pilar MaríaMarco-Cabedo, Vicentede Miguel, María JesúsLópez, DéboraMuñoz-Baquero, MartaGarcía-Párraga, DanielBarasona García-Arévalo, José Ángel2026-02-062026-02-062026Vargas-Castro, Ignacio, Andrés-Barranco, Sara, Crespo-Picazo, José Luis, Torre-Fuentes, Laura, Jiménez-Martínez, Mª Ángeles, Hernández, Marta, Arbelo, Manuel, Álvarez, Julio, Muñoz, Pilar María, Marco-Cabedo, Vicente, de Miguel, María Jesús, López, Débora, Muñoz-Baquero, Marta, García-Párraga, Daniel, Barasona, José Ángel, Towards Integrated Surveillance of Marine Brucellosis: Diagnostic and Phylogenetic Assessment of Brucella ceti in Stranded Dolphins of the Western Mediterranean Sea, Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, 2026, 2075116, 15 pages, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1155/tbed/20751161865-167410.1155/tbed/2075116https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/131844Contribución de autores: Conceptualization: Ignacio Vargas-Castro, Sara Andrés-Barranco, José Luis Crespo-Picazo, Mª Ángeles Jiménez-Martínez, Pilar María Muñoz, María Jesús de Miguel, and Daniel García-Párraga. Methodology: Ignacio Vargas-Castro, Sara Andrés-Barranco, José Luis Crespo-Picazo, Laura Torre-Fuentes, Mª Ángeles Jiménez-Martínez, Marta Hernández, Manuel Arbelo, Julio Álvarez, Pilar María Muñoz, Vicente Marco-Cabedo, María Jesús de Miguel, Débora López, and Marta Muñoz-Baquero. Formal analysis: Laura Torre-Fuentes, Marta Hernández, and Julio Álvarez. Investigation: Ignacio Vargas-Castro, Sara Andrés-Barranco, José Luis Crespo-Picazo, Mª Ángeles Jiménez-Martínez, Pilar María Muñoz, and María Jesús de Miguel. Writing – original draft preparation: Ignacio Vargas-Castro, José Luis Crespo-Picazo, and Mª Ángeles Jiménez-Martínez. Writing – review and editing: Ignacio Vargas-Castro, Sara Andrés-Barranco, José Luis Crespo-Picazo, Laura Torre-Fuentes, Mª Ángeles Jiménez-Martínez, Marta Hernández, Manuel Arbelo, Julio Álvarez, Pilar María Muñoz, Vicente Marco-Cabedo, María Jesús de Miguel, Débora López, Marta Muñoz-Baquero, Daniel García-Párraga, and José Ángel Barasona. Supervision: Mª Ángeles Jiménez-Martínez, Pilar María Muñoz, Daniel García-Párraga, and José Ángel Barasona. Funding acquisition: Pilar María Muñoz, Daniel García-Párraga, and José Ángel Barasona.Reports of brucellosis in free-ranging cetaceans are increasing worldwide, particularly in the Mediterranean Sea. To enhance diagnostic accuracy and epidemiological understanding of cetacean brucellosis in the Western Mediterranean Sea, we analyzed bacteriological, serological, and molecular data from 30 cetaceans belonging to three different species stranded along the coast of the Valencian Community (Spain) between 2011 and 2021. Brucella ceti infection was confirmed by bacteriological isolation in 14 animals (46.7%) and by genus-specific qPCR in 15 cases (50%), with some discrepancies between methods. When feasible, serological analyses were performed using a commercial blocking ELISA (bELISA) and/or the Rose Bengal agglutination test (RBT). In the absence of ELISA tests properly validated for its use in marine mammals, we assessed the optimum dilution and cut-off of this ELISA kit using panels of gold-standard sera from culture-positive and brucellosis-free dolphins. From a pathological perspective, 12 infected animals showed moderate to severe meningoencephalitis or meningoencephalomyelitis with lymphoplasmacytic infiltration. Additionally, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) enabled the identification of two sequence types (STs), ST26 and ST49, indicating phylogenetic divergence. Our findings provide new insights into the phylogenetics of B. ceti and highlight the particular susceptibility of striped dolphins to this bacterium. The study also evidences the need for proper validation of the indirect diagnostic methods used for surveillance and seroepidemiological studies of brucellosis in marine mammals.engAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/journal article1865-1682https://doi.org/10.1155/tbed/207511641623553https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41623553/open access636.09Blocking ELISABrucella cetiCetaceansDiagnosisSequence typeSurveillanceWGSVeterinaria3109 Ciencias Veterinarias