Fatal Systemic Morbillivirus Infection in Bottlenose Dolphin, Canary Islands, Spain

Abstract

A systemic morbillivirus infection was diagnosed postmortem in a juvenile bottlenose dolphin stranded in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean in 2005. Sequence analysis of a conserved fragment of the morbillivirus phosphoprotein gene indicated that the virus is closely related to dolphin morbillivirus recently reported in striped dolphins in the Mediterranean Sea.

Keywords

• morbillivirus
• bottlenose dolphin
• Canary Islands
• Spain
• viruses
• cetacean morbilliviruses