Osterhaus A, van de Bildt M, Vedder L, Martina B, Niesters H, Vos J, van Egmond H, Liem D, Baumann R, Androukaki E, Kotomatas S, Komnenou A, Abou Sidi B, Jiddou A B, Barham M E
Erasmus University Hospital Rotterdam, Institute of Virology, The Netherlands.
Vaccine. 1998 May-Jun;16(9-10):979-81. doi: 10.1016/s0264-410x(98)00006-1.
During the past few months, more than half of the total population of about 300 highly endangered Mediterranean monk seals (Monachus monachus) on the western Saharan coast of Africa, died in a mysterious disease outbreak. Epizootiological and postmortem findings were reminiscent of similar outbreaks amongst pinniped and cetacean species in recent years, which were caused by an infection with newly discovered morbilliviruses (for review see osterhaus et al.). Virological, as well as toxicological, analysis performed on tissue samples collected from relatively fresh carcasses during the outbreak indicate that infection with a virus closely related to dolphin morbillivirus (DMV), possibly originating from affected dolphins in the same area, was the primary cause of the outbreak. Therefore it is concluded that vaccination with a safe and effective non-replicating vaccine should be considered as a management tool in the conservation of Mediterranean monk seals.
在过去几个月里，非洲撒哈拉西部海岸约300只极度濒危的地中海僧海豹总数的一半以上，死于一场神秘的疾病爆发。流行病学和尸检结果让人想起近年来鳍足类和鲸类动物中发生的类似疫情，这些疫情是由新发现的麻疹病毒感染引起的（综述见奥斯特豪斯等人）。在疫情爆发期间，对从相对新鲜的尸体上采集的组织样本进行的病毒学和毒理学分析表明，感染了一种与海豚麻疹病毒（DMV）密切相关的病毒，可能源自同一地区受影响的海豚，是此次疫情爆发的主要原因。因此得出结论，应考虑使用安全有效的非复制疫苗进行接种，作为保护地中海僧海豹的一种管理手段。
