RT Journal Article
T1 Genetic heterogeneity of dolphin morbilliviruses detected in the Spanish Mediterranean in inter-epizootic period
A1 Rubio-Guerri, Consuelo
A1 Jiménez Martínez, María de los Ángeles
A1 Melero, Mar
A1 Díaz-Delgado, Josué
A1 Sierra, Eva
A1 Arbelo, Manuel
A1 Bellière, Edwige
A1 Crespo-Picazo, Jose L.
A1 García-Párraga, Daniel
A1 Esperón, Fernando
A1 Sánchez-Vizcaíno Rodríguez, José Manuel
AB Background: In the last 20 years, Cetacean Morbillivirus (CeMV) has been responsible for many die-offs in marine mammals worldwide, as clearly exemplified by the three dolphin morbillivirus (DMV) epizootics of 1990-1992, 2006-2008 and 2011 that affected Mediterranean striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba). Systemic infection caused by DMV in the Mediterranean has been reported only during these outbreaks.Results: We report the infection of five striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) stranded on the Spanish Mediterranean coast of Valencia after the last DMV outbreak that ended in 2011. Animal 1 stranded in late 2011 and Animal 2 in 2012. Systemic infection affecting all tissues was found based on histopathology and positive immunohistochemical and polymerase chain reaction positive results. Animal 3 stranded in 2014; molecular and immunohistochemical detection was positive only in the central nervous system. Animals 4 and 5 stranded in 2015, and DMV antigen was found in several tissues. Partial sequences of the DMV phosphoprotein (P), nucleoprotein (N), and hemagglutinin (H) genes were identical for Animals 2, 3, 4, and 5, and were remarkably different from those in Animal 1. The P sequence from Animal 1 was identical to that of the DMV strain that caused the epizootic of 2011 in the Spanish Mediterranean. The corresponding sequence from Animals 2-5 was identical to that from a striped dolphin stranded in 2011 on the Canary Islands and to six dolphins stranded in northeastern Atlantic of the Iberian Peninsula.Conclusions: These results suggest the existence of an endemic infection cycle among striped dolphins in the Mediterranean that may lead to occasional systemic disease presentations outside epizootic periods. This cycle involves multiple pathogenic viral strains, one of which may have originated in the Atlantic Ocean.
PB Springer Nature
SN 1746-6148
YR 2018
FD 2018
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/95692
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/95692
LA eng
NO Rubio-Guerri, C., Jiménez, M. Á., Melero, M., Díaz-Delgado, J., Sierra, E., Arbelo, M., Bellière, E. N., Crespo-Picazo, J. L., García-Párraga, D., Esperón, F., & Sánchez-Vizcaíno, J. M. (2018). Genetic heterogeneity of dolphin morbilliviruses detected in the Spanish Mediterranean in inter-epizootic period. BMC veterinary research, 14(1), 248. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-018-1559-0
NO Authors’ contributionsNecropsy and sample taking were performed by CRG, JLC, MM; histopathology and immunohistochemistry were performed by JDD, ES, MA and MAJ; viral study and phylogenetic study were analyzed by CRG, ENB, MM and FE; the manuscript was prepared and critically discussed by CRG, DGP, and JMSV with the contributions of all the remaining authors. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
NO Generalitat Valenciana
NO Oceanogràfic Aquarium of the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias of Valencia
NO Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (España)
NO Universidad Complutense de Madrid
NO Ministerio de Educación (España)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 17 abr 2025