MORBILLIVIRUS INFECTION IN CETACEANS OF THE WESTERN ATLANTIC

We report serologic evidence of morbillivirus infection in eleven of f ifteen species of odontocete cetaceans from the western Atlantic since 1986. Blood samples were obtained both from free-ranging and stranded animals. Virus neutralizing titers were higher against porpoise and d olphin morbilliviruses than against peste des petits ruminants virus, phocine distemper virus or canine distemper virus (CDV). Serum from fi ve species, tested in a heterologous immunoprecipitation assay using r adiolabelled CDV, precipitated the nucleocapsid (N) protein. Clinical morbillivirus infection may potentially impact already threatened spec ies such as the harbour porpoise and precipitate mass strandings of so cially cohesive odontocetes.