POST-MORTEM INVESTIGATIONS ON CETACEANS FOUND STRANDED ON THE COASTS OF ITALY BETWEEN 1990 AND 1993

Detailed pathological and virological examinations were carried out on 25 cetaceans found stranded between 1990 and 1993 on the coasts of si x Italian regions (Latium, Tuscany, Apulia, Abruzzo, Veneto and Sicily ). There were 16 striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba), three bottl enosed dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), three Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus), one rough-toothed dolphin (Steno bredanensis), one fin whale pup (Balaenoptern physalus), and one minke whale (Balaenoptera acutor ostrata). Apart from parasitic diseases (44 per cent), the most freque ntly detected lesions were pneumonia (68 per cent), enteritis (44 per cent), non-purulent hepatitis (40 per cent), interstitial nephritis (3 2 per cent) and encephalitis (32 per cent). Morbillivirus infection wa s diagnosed by immunocytochemistry in four striped dolphins, two stran ded on the coasts of Latium in 1991 and two on the coasts of Tuscany i n 1993. Despite the presence of lesions consistent with norbilliviral pneumonia in two other striped dolphins stranded on the coast of Apuli a in 1991, no morbillivirus antigen was demonstrated in the tissues of these animals. Anticanine distemper virus antibodies were detected in the serum of the adult minke whale found stranded on the coast of Tus cany in 1993. However, no viruses were isolated from the tissues of an y of the 25 cetaceans.