Cat Parasite Found in Arctic Whales That Are a Food Source

Arctic Beluga whales have apparently been exposed to a cat parasite that can cause blindness in people and was likely imported into the region when people brought the animals as pets.

Warming Arctic conditions have allowed the pathogen to move more freely, and its discovery in the Beluga is especially significant because Inuit people in the area often eat the meat raw or undercooked, BBC News reported.

"The transmissible stage of this parasite is an egg-like structure," molecular parasitologist Michael Grigg told BBC News.

"The only way to deactivate it is to boil it or freeze it, so the longer you have temperatures above zero degrees Celsius, the more risk you have in being exposed to this infectious stage of the parasite. And with climate change, you are increasing your risk."

The parasite toxoplasma gondii is common in lower latitudes, where many people can carry it unharmed; however, it is a risk for pregnant women and people who have weak immune systems, BBC News reported.

Inuit have been discouraged from eating beluga meat unless it is fully cooked to protect from the parasite, which may have gotten into the whales when cats were brought to the Arctic as pets. Scientists have theorized that their feces must have gotten into waterways and then into the ocean.

The pathogen's survival points to climate change in the area, which has "significantly warmer temperatures" than before, allowing the parasite to survive.

"What we're finding with the changes ongoing in the Arctic is that we're getting new pathogens emerging to cause diseases in the region that haven't been there before," Grigg told BBC News.

According to Sue Moore, an oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, sea mammals are "sentinels of change" for any upsets in the Arctic ecosystem.

"They reflect the changes that are occurring below them," Moore told BBC News. "They may not be able to tell you every linkage, but if a sea mammal stops eating one thing and starts eating another, that tells me there has been a big shift."