Short-Finned Pilot Whale Strandings Associated with Pilot Whale Morbillivirus, Brazil

Abstract

Cetacean morbillivirus (CeMV) causes illness and death in cetaceans worldwide; the CeMV strains circulating in the Southern Hemisphere are poorly known. We detected a pilot whale CeMV strain in 3 short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) stranded in Brazil during July-October 2020. Our results confirm this virus circulates in this species.

Keywords: Brazil; Brazil. Emerg Infect Dis. 2023 Jan [date cited]. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2901.221549; Carvalho VL; Castilho PV; Cremer MJ; Sacristán C; Soares RM; South America; Suggested citation for this article: Costa-Silva S; cetacean; et al. Short-finned pilot whale strandings associated with pilot whale morbillivirus; herpesvirus; morbillivirus; pilot whale; stranding; viruses.

Figure

Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree based on Hasegawa-Khisino-Yano model with inversions gamma distribution and invariant sites of the phosphoprotein gene nucleotide sequences of cetacean morbillivirus PWMV obtained in Brazil (this study, blue circles), PWMV sequences previously described, and other morbillivirus strains described in cetaceans available from the GenBank/DDBJ/EMBL databases. Phocine distemper virus was selected as outgroup. The sequence identifier shows GenBank accession number, virus type, and location. Yellow shading indicates strains comprised in Cetacean morbillivirus lineage 1; blue shading indicates strains in lineage 2. Numbers at nodes indicate the bootstrap value; 1,000 bootstrap replications were selected, and bootstrap values <70 were omitted. BWMV, beaked whale morbillivirus; DMV, dolphin morbillivirus; GDMV, Guiana dolphin morbillivirus; PMV, porpoise morbillivirus; PWMV, pilot whale morbillivirus.