Dolphins with Deadly Morbillivirus Found in Florida

The virus that killed a record number of dolphins along the Mid-Atlantic coast this summer has spread southward has dolphins migrate down the coast, with dead and diseased dolphins being reported in Florida. The disease has now suspected in whales too.

The measles-like virus, known as morbillivirus, has killed 753 dolphins this year, NBC Science reported. this summer, the dolphins were turning up dead from New York to South Carolina. And now as the cetaceans move south, those harboring the virus are carrying it with them and spreading to other marine mammals.

Three humpback whales and two pygmy whales are suspected to have died for the virus, NBC said, after scientists found the creatures dead on the shores. Tests are underway to confirm whether it was morbillivirus that killed the whales, but the creatures were found in such advanced stages of decomposition that observing signs of the disease in tissue samples is difficult.

"Most of them are very decomposed," Terri Rowles, of the NOAA Fishers Marine Mammal Stranding Response Program, told reporters on a teleconference call Friday, according to NBC.

Bottlenose dolphins appear to the hit the hardest by the recent virus outbreak. Tests on other dolphin species in the same waters, including common dolphins and spotted dolphins, have come back negative. A test on harp seals proved negative as well, NBC reported.

A similar morbillivirus outbreak ravaged dolphin populations before in 1987-88, killing about 740 dolphins along the East Coast.

The dolphins dead from morbillivirus this year have surpassed the number killed in the 80s, but Rowles said based on what they know from the previous outbreak the current cycle is not over yet. "We are less than half way through the time frame" the disease will take to dissipate, Rowles said.

The virus spreads easily, though contact or shared air, so it is very possible that bottlenose dolphins in Florida and farther south will become infected.

"There is no vaccine that can be deployed for a large bottlenose dolphin population or any cetacean species," Rowles said. "Currently there is nothing that can be done to prevent the infection spreading, or prevent animals that get infected from having severe clinical disease."

Graphic from NOAA: