International overview of sea turtle fibropapillomatosis - a survey of expert opinions and trends

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Theodore

International overview of sea turtle fibropapillomatosis compiles expert survey findings on this globally spreading epizootic tumor disease affecting green sea turtles. The study applies One Health framing to connect marine cancer biology with human and animal health. Responses indicate growing prevalence, multiple perceived contributing factors, and constraints in funding, facilities, and capacity for care. Reported treatments range from surgical tumor removal and anti-cancer drugs to necropsy practices, while multidisciplinary collaboration is viewed as extremely important.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Methods

Results

Discussion

TYPE Original Research PUBLISHED 22 August 2024 DOI 10.3389/fcell.2024.1445438 OPEN ACCESS EDITED BY Daniel Loic Pouliquen, Inserm UMR 1307 (CRCI2NA), ICO., France REVIEWED BY Fernando Alberto Muñoz, Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, Mexico Ricardo Lucena, Federal University of Paraíba, Brazil *CORRESPONDENCE David J. Duffy, duffy@whitney. uﬂ . edu †These authors have contributed equally to this work RECEIVED 07 June 2024 ACCEPTED 08 August 2024 PUBLISHED 22 August 2024 CITATION Whilde J, Mashkour N, Koda SA, Eastman CB, Thompson D, Burkhalter B, Frandsen HR, Page A, Blackburn NB, Jones K, Ariel E, Dupont SM, Wood L and Duffy DJ (2024) International overview of sea turtle ﬁbropapillomatosis: a survey of expert opinions and trends. Front. Cell Dev. Biol. 12:1445438 . doi: 10.3389/fcell.2024.1445438 COPYRIGHT © 2024 Whilde, Mashkour, Koda, Eastman, Thompson, Burkhalter, Frandsen, Page, Blackburn, Jones, Ariel, Dupont, Wood and Duffy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. International overview of sea turtle ﬁbropapillomatosis: a survey of expert opinions and trends Jenny Whilde 1†, Narges Mashkour 1†, Samantha A. Koda 1, Catherine B. Eastman 1, Drew Thompson 1, Brooke Burkhalter 1, Hilary R. Frandsen 2, Annie Page 3, Nicholas B. Blackburn 4, Karina Jones 5, Ellen Ariel 6, Sophie M. Dupont 7,8, Lawrence Wood 9 and David J. Duffy 1,10* 1Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience and Sea Turtle Hospital, University of Florida, St Augustine, FL, United States, 2National Park Service, Division of Sea Turtle Science and Recovery, Padre Island National Seashore, Corpus Christi, TX, United States, 3Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University, Fort Pierce, FL, United States, 4Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia, 5School of Veterinary Medicine, Murdoch University, Perth, WA, Australia, 6College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia, 7 BOREA Research Unit, Laboratoire de Biologie des Organismes et des Ecosystèmes Aquatiques, UMR 8067, MNHN, CNRS, SU, IRD 207, UCN, UA, Station de Recherche Marine de Martinique, Les Ansesd’Arlet, France, 8Littoral Environnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), UMR 7266, CNRS, La Rochelle Université, La Rochelle, France, 9Florida Hawksbill Project, National Save The Sea Turtle Foundation, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, United States, 10Department of Biology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States Introduction: Marine environments offer a wealth of opportunities to improve understanding and treatment options for cancers, through insights into a range of ﬁelds from drug discovery to mechanistic insights. By applying One Health principles the knowledge obtained can beneﬁt both human and animal populations, including marine species suffering from cancer. One such species is green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas), which are under threat from ﬁbropapillomatosis (FP), an epizootic tumor disease (animal epidemic) that continues to spread and increase in prevalence globally. In order to effectively address this epizootic, a more thorough understanding is required of the prevalence of the disease and the approaches to treating afﬂicted turtles. Methods: To identify knowledge gaps and assess future needs, we conducted a survey of sea turtle FP experts. The survey consisted of 47 questions designed to assess general perceptions of FP, the areas where more information is needed, local FP trend

FAQs

What knowledge gaps does the survey aim to address?

The survey targets gaps and future needs related to expert perceptions of fibropapillomatosis, priority information areas, local disease trends, overall disease status, and mitigation requirements.

What do experts report about fibropapillomatosis prevalence?

Over 70% of respondents recognize fibropapillomatosis as a cancerous panzootic disease and report that prevalence is increasing globally.

How do experts describe treatment and research needs?

Most medical experts report surgical removal of tumors, some use anti-cancer drugs, and many emphasize the need for more funding and improved facilities, along with extremely important large-scale multidisciplinary collaboration.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Theodore