SAUSALITO, Calif, - The patient roster at Sausalito’s Marine Mammal Center ballooned to unheard-of levels in July with 100 sick sea lions suffering from the bacterial disease leptospirosis.

"This definitely has caught us by surprise, and it's an immense challenge," said Giancarlo Rulli, a spokesperson for the center.

This time last week, the center completed 19 necropsies, all sea lions.

Dr. Padraig Dugnan, the Marine Mammal Center's director of pathology, says scientists have known about this disease for over 50 years, but that the current outbreak is not following usual patterns.

"Right now, we are seeing an unprecedented outbreak of [the] disease very early in the season," Duignan said. "Typically it would have started late August, run through the fall and maybe finish up in t

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