Elephant seal skin disease

We had a yearling Northern Elephant Seal come in to the Marine Mammal Center today.  She is underweight and is reported to have blood in her urine.  The most obvious issue, however, is that she has lesions all over her back and they are seeping blood tinged, grayish fluid.  And she smells.  Really bad.

Although she has not yet had an admit exam, I'm going to guess that she has Northern Elephant Seal Skin Disease (NESSD).  I did a search on this condition and found a scientific paper from 1997:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9249688

It turns out that NESSD affects Northern Elephant Seals that are 9 months to 2 years old and most cases are seen between January and May.  Moderate cases peak between December and January, severe cases are usually seen between March and May.

Northern Elephant Seal Skin Disease is graded as mild, moderate, or severe.  Mild cases have ulcers that are less than 2cm in diameter or covering less than half of the body surface.  Moderate cases have larger lesions with thickened skin, and severe cases have large ulcers that grow into one another, exude blood or fluid, and may become necrotic meaning that the tissue begins to die.

Based on the above grading scale, to me, the new elephant seal seems to have a moderate to severe case of NESSD.  Mild cases have a survival rate of 93%, 66% survive moderate cases, and less than 1% survive severe cases.  So, the chances for our new ellie aren't awesome if moderate to severe NESSD is her diagnosis.  The cause of death in cases of NESSD is most often septicemia (going "septic" or an infection that takes over the entire body).  This likely happens when bacteria enter through the skin lesions.

The next question might be what caused her condition?  The study I read found no clear cause.  Viruses were not found, bacterial cultures were taken but nothing but normal skin bacteria was found consistently.  One interesting finding, however, is that affected seals tended to be smaller than unaffected ones.  This may point to a genetic cause which could be explained by the population bottleneck that occurred in the early 1900's when the animals were down to around 100 individuals from which all present day Northern Elephant Seals arose.

It was also found that the skin lesions and blood work changes that happen in elephant seals affected with NESSD are also consistent with exposure to polyhalogenated aromatic hydrocarbons (PHAHs) including PCB's and PBB's.

According to wikipedia PCBs were used as coolants and insulating fluids for transformers and capacitors, such as those used in old fluorescent light ballasts, plasticizers in paints and cements, stabilizing additives in flexible PVC coatings of electrical wiring and electronic components, pesticide extenders, cutting oils, reactive flame retardants, lubricating oils, hydraulic fluids, and sealants, adhesives, wood floor finishes, paints, de-dusting agents, water-proofing compounds, casting agents, vacuum pump fluids, fixatives in microscopy, surgical implants, and in carbonless copy paper.  They were banned in the US in the 1970's for most uses, but their use in closed applications such as capacitors has continued in the US and high concentrations have been found in recently in both water and on land.

PBBs are used as flame retardants, added to plastics used in products such as home electrical appliances, textiles, plastic foams, laptop cabinets, etc. to make them difficult to burn.  Their use is restricted in the EU, but wikipedia says nothing about any US regulations.

Both the wikipedia articles on PCB's and PBB's list acne and skin issues among signs of exposure and apparently more research is being done on a possible link between these chemicals and Northern Elephant Seal Skin Disease.