Located in southern California, the Salton Sea is California's largest inland body of water. Annual losses of large numbers of fish and birds at the Salton Sea in recent years has prompted a high level of concern in state and federal resource agencies, local governments, citizens, elected officials, and the media. During 1996, nearly 15,000 pelicans and other fish-eating birds at the Salton Sea, including the endangered brown pelican, died from avian botulism. Outbreaks of other microbial pathogens, including avian cholera, salmonellosis and Newcastle Disease, have also caused the loss of significant numbers of waterbirds.
Fish kills are a common occurrence at the Sea, often involving many millions of animals.
Many of the bacteria that afflict wildlife, such as Salmonella and Vibrio, can also cause diseases in humans. Evaluation of bacterial isolates by ribotyping was done by the Laboratory for Molecular Typing at Cornell University. Ribotyping has been shown to be an appropriate molecular typing technique for interpretation of isogenic bacterial disease outbreaks. Among various methods to determine the source of fecal contamination of waters, ribotyping has demonstrated some ability to resolve sources of pollution. The ability to distinguish bacterial populations within the species adds another dimension to determining the bacteria present, the source, and potential for further disease outbreaks.