Novel cetacean morbillivirus in Guiana Dolphin, Brazil

Abstract

Since 1987, morbillivirus (family Paramyxoviridae, genus Morbillivirus) outbreaks among pinnipeds and cetaceans in the Northern Hemisphere have caused high rates of death (1,2). Two morbillivirus species are known to affect aquatic animals: Phocine distemper virus (PDV) and Cetacean morbillivirus (CeMV). PDV has been isolated from pinnipeds, and 3 strains of CeMV (porpoise morbillivirus [PMV], dolphin morbillivirus [DMV], and pilot whale morbillivirus [PWMV]) have been isolated from dolphins and whales (3,4).

Serologic surveys indicate that morbilliviruses infect marine mammals worldwide (5); however, only 1 fatal case in a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) has been confirmed in the Southern Hemisphere (in the southwestern Pacific Ocean) (6). Positive DMV-specific antibody titers in 3 Fraser’s dolphins (Lagenodelphis hosei) stranded off Brazil and Argentina in 1999 indicate the exposure of South Atlantic cetaceans to morbillivirus (7). We report a case of lethal morbillivirus infection in a Guiana dolphin (Sotalia guianensis), a coastal marine and estuarine species that occurs off the Atlantic Coast of South and Central America.