January 30, 2018—The Turtle Hospital, a care and rehab center in the Florida Keys, has performed a recently developed treatment on two green sea turtles—an encouraging step in their fight against a pandemic disease. Fibropapillomatosis (FP for short), likely caused by a herpesvirus and spread by parasites, often results in large, crippling tumors. The resulting blindness, immobility, and other impairments can end in death. The center has surgically treated many sea turtles, but that brings other risks, like secondary infection. Working with the University of Florida the hospital has now employed electrochemotherapy, which allows local treatment with anti-tumor agents, sparing the body extra exposure. Electric pulses help affected cells take the agents in. FP afflicts all green sea turtle populations. This procedure could offer them a better future.
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This Hospital Is Devoted to Saving Sea Turtles
