Rare Parasite Strain Killing Sea Otters Poses Health Threat to Humans

Southern sea otters in California are dying from a rare and severe form of toxoplasmosis caused by a strain of parasite that has never been detected on the California coastline before. The parasite could pose a threat to humans and other animals, and there is a potential public health risk. The cause and exact source of the strain remain unknown, but experts suspect that a domestic or wild cat may have shed the parasite through its feces into streams or stormwater runoff, which then may have drained into the ocean water where the otters were feeding and subsequently became infected. Sea otters have been protected under the Endangered Species Act since 1977, and the population has struggled to get back to its historic numbers and geographic range due to other infectious diseases, resource limitations, and shark predation.