POSTMORTEM DIAGNOSIS OF MORBILLIVIRUS INFECTION IN BOTTLE-NOSED DOLPHINS (TURSIOPS-TRUNCATUS) IN THE ATLANTIC AND GULF-OF-MEXICO EPIZOOTICSBY POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION-BASED ASSAY

Lung tissue from 39 bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) found dea d off the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts from 1987 to 1994 wa s examined for the presence of morbillivirus using a reverse transcrip tase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique. Of the Atlantic cas es examined, six of six were positive using this assay; 18 of 25 Gulf of Mexico cases with amplifiable RNA also were found to be positive, a nd eight additional specimens had no amplifiable RNA. The RT-PCR allow ed the diagnosis of morbillivirus infection to be made from either sec tions of paraffin-embedded formalin-fixed material or from unfixed tis sue. Confirmation of diagnosis was made by subsequent hybridization of the amplified products with a dolphin morbillivirus specific probe us ing the Southern blot technique. Application of this method to autolyz ed post-mortem tissues allows diagnoses of morbillivirus infection to be made in specimens which cannot be evaluated by histologic and immun ocytochemical techniques.