Dear Marmamers,

My co-authors and I would like to announce our new article “Cetacean Morbillivirus in Coastal Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins, Western Australia”, which is now available as a full-text online article ahead of print in Emerging Infectious Disease. It can be viewed in full here: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/20/4/13-1714_article.htm. 

Abstract:

Cetacean morbillivirus (CeMV) has caused several epizootics in multiple species of cetaceans globally and is an emerging disease among cetaceans in Australia. We detected CeMV in 2 stranded coastal Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) in Western Australia. Preliminary phylogenetic data suggest that this virus variant is divergent from known strains.

I recently presented these results at the Society for Marine Mammalogy's Biennial Conference in Dunedin, New Zealand (December 2013). We think it adds valuable information to the interesting recent developments in the study of Cetacean Morbillivirus worldwide.

Best Wishes, Nahiid.

Nahiid Stephens BSc BVMS (Hons) MANZCVSc (VetPath)

Lecturer in Veterinary Pathology

School of Veterinary and Life Sciences

Murdoch University

Murdoch WA 6150

Phone: +61 8 9360 2666

Email: N.Stephens@murdoch.edu.au