MORBILLIVIRUS INFECTION IN BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS: EVIDENCE FOR RECURRENT EPIZOOTICS IN THE WESTERN ATLANTIC AND GULF OF MEXICO

Abstract

AbstractMorbillivirus infection is widespread among odontocetes of the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. Serologic evidence of infection in bottlenose dolphins,Tursiops truncatus, was first detected during an epizootic along the mid‐Atlantic coast in 1987. Here, we report recurrent epizootics in the coastal dolphin population since at least the early 1980s based on serological surveys and regional stranding frequencies. The first observed epizootic of this series occurred in the Indian and Banana Rivers in 1982 and was followed by others on the mid‐Atlantic coast in 1987–1988 and in the Gulf of Mexico between 1992 and 1994. This temporal pattern of infection is likely facilitated by the population size and its fragmentation into relatively discrete coastal communities. Introduction of morbillivirus into a community with a sufficient number of naive hosts may precipitate an epizootic, depending on the potential for transmission within the group. Propagation of an epizootic along the coast is probably determined by frequency of contact between adjacent communities and seasonal migrations.Morbillivirus antibodies were also detected in serum from offshore bottlenose dolphins. The sero‐prevalence in the latter may be higher than in coastal dolphins because of their close association with enzootically infected pilot whales (Globicephalaspp.). Occasional contact between offshore and coastal dolphins may provide an epizootiologic link between pilot whales and coastal dolphin communities.