Abstract
Dolphin morbillivirus (DMV) has been responsible for several outbreaks of systemic infection and has resulted in cetacean strandings in the Mediterranean. In August-October 2016, seven striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) stranded on the Sicilian coastline (Italy) tested positive for DMV. Tissue samples from brain, lung, pulmonary lymph nodes, heart, spleen, liver, stomach, intestine, kidneys and urinary bladder, as well as blowhole swabs, were collected during necropsy for molecular diagnostics and pathology studies. Extracted tissue RNA was screened for DMV by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Some tissues exhibited microscopic lesions that were consistent with DMV infection on histopathological and immunohistochemical grounds. Conventional reverse transcription PCR to target partial nucleoprotein and phosphoprotein genes yielded sequences used to genetically characterize the associated DMV strain. DMV RNA was detected by both PCR assays in all tested tissues of the seven dolphins, which suggests systemic infections, but was absent from another dolphin stranded on the Sicilian coastline during the same period. The partial phosphoprotein and nucleoprotein gene sequences from the positive dolphins were 99.7% and 99.5% identical, respectively, to the DMV sequences recently observed in cetaceans stranded on the Spanish Mediterranean. Our study suggests that this DMV strain is circulating in the Mediterranean.
Highlights
In the past 25 years, different CeMV strains have caused pulmonary and neurological diseases in cetaceans that have led to stranding events involving massive numbers of animals to just one cetacean or a few[9,10]
We describe seven Dolphin morbillivirus (DMV) infection cases in striped dolphins that stranded on Italian coastlines of Sicily, in the Mediterranean and Ionian Seas, in 3 months of 2016
The results of the present analyses revealed DMV infection in seven of the eight stranded striped dolphins examined
Summary
In the past 25 years, different CeMV strains have caused pulmonary and neurological diseases in cetaceans that have led to stranding events involving massive numbers of animals to just one cetacean or a few[9,10]. Different cetacean species, including fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus), Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris), striped dolphin and bottlenose dolphin[18,19,20,21,22,23,24]. This suggests that DMV remains a major threat to cetaceans. A comparison of these sequences with those of other reported CeMV strains (including a DMV isolated from a fin whale stranded in 2013 on the Italian coast[22] that was sequenced26) was made to better understand the genetic relationships and molecular epidemiology of DMV in the Mediterranean Sea
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call