Epizootic of dolphin morbillivirus on the Catalonian Mediterranean coast in 2007

BETWEEN 1990 and 1992, thousands of striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) stranded along the Mediterranean coast due to a newly described virus, the dolphin morbillivirus (DMV) (Domingo and others 1990, 1992). DMV is one of the several morbilliviruses that have killed marine mammals worldwide since 1987 (Di Guardo and others 2005). A new DMV epizootic has been recently confirmed from the Mediterranean Spanish and French coasts during 2007 to 2008 (Fernández and others 2008, Raga and others 2008, Keck and others 2010). This short communication describes the pathological findings associated with DMV infection and secondary infections, observed during this epizootic on the Mediterranean coa…