Morbillivirus and pilot whale deaths, Mediterranean Sea

Emerg Infect Dis. 2008 May;14(5):792-4. doi: 10.3201/eid1405.070948.

Abstract

An outbreak of a lethal morbillivirus infection of long-finned pilot whales occurred in the Mediterranean Sea from the end of October 2006 through April 2007. Sequence analysis of a 426-bp conserved fragment of the morbillivirus phosphoprotein gene indicates that the virus is more closely related to dolphin morbillivirus than to pilot whale morbillivirus.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Disease Outbreaks / veterinary*
  • Female
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Lymph Nodes / pathology
  • Lymph Nodes / virology
  • Male
  • Mediterranean Sea
  • Morbillivirus / classification
  • Morbillivirus / genetics
  • Morbillivirus / pathogenicity*
  • Morbillivirus Infections / mortality
  • Morbillivirus Infections / veterinary*
  • Morbillivirus Infections / virology
  • Phosphoproteins / genetics
  • Phylogeny
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Viral Proteins / genetics
  • Whales / virology*

Substances

  • Phosphoproteins
  • Viral Proteins