Naslov
Dolphin morbilliviral infection from the Mediterranean Sea did not spread into the Adriatic Sea

Autori
Gomerčić, Hrvoje ; Huber, Đuro ; Gomerčić, Vera ; Škrtić, Darinka ; Gomerčić, Ana ; Vuković, Snježana

Izvornik
Acta veterinaria Hungarica (0236-6290) 46 (1998), 1; 127-134

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus); morbillivirus; epizootic; survey; Adriatic Sea; Croatia

Sažetak
In July of 1990, a mass mortality of striped dolphins due to morbillivirus infection had began in the western Mediterranean. By 1992, the infection had spread to the eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea. Other dolphin species in the Mediterranean were not found to have died due to this infection, although it is possible for many species of marine mammals to be infected. In 1994, it was published that morbillivirus infection had caused Atlantic bottlenose dolphin mortality in the USA. Although striped dolphins are not residents of the Adriatic Sea, it was hypothesised that the infection could have spread from them to Adriatic bottlenose dolphins. From October 1990 through April 1997, 16 dolphin carcasses found along the Croatian Adriatic coast were examined. Tissues were examined by light microscopy for syncytia and inclusion bodies, histopathologic lesions characteristic of dolphin morbillivirus infection, and by detection of morbilliviral RNA by a reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). No signs of morbillivirus infection were found in the examined animals. It was concluded that this infection had not spread to dolphins of the Adriatic Sea up until that date.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Biologija

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