AUTHOR=Centelleghe Cinzia , Beffagna Giorgia , Palmisano Giuseppe , Franzo Giovanni , Casalone Cristina , Pautasso Alessandra , Giorda Federica , Di Nocera Fabio , Iaccarino Doriana , Santoro Mario , Di Guardo Giovanni , Mazzariol Sandro 

TITLE=Dolphin Morbillivirus in a Cuvier’s Beaked Whale (Ziphius cavirostris), Italy

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2017.00111

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2017.00111

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Dolphin morbillivirus (DMV) has caused several mortality events in Mediterranean striped (<italic>Stenella coeruleoalba</italic>) and bottlenose (<italic>Tursiops truncatus</italic>) dolphins populations since 19; in the last 5 years, the virus was reported to infect new hosts in this basin, such as fin whales (<italic>Balaenoptera physalus</italic>), sperm whales (<italic>Physeter macrocephalus</italic>), and even a harbor seal (<italic>Phoca vitulina</italic>). Very recently, a calf Cuvier’s beaked whale (<italic>Ziphius cavirostris</italic>) calf stranded on the Southern Italian coastline with mild pathological findings suggestive of morbilliviral infection, received the first confirmation of DMV infection in this species by biomolecular evidences on lung tissue. This new cross-species infection report, along with 19% of the cetaceans specimens examined by the Italian Stranding Network being found positive to DMV, support the hypothesis of an endemic circulation of this virus among Mediterranean cetaceans.</p>