Gomercić H, Huber D, Gomercić V, Skrtić D, Gomercić A, Vuković S
Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Croatia.
Acta Vet Hung. 1998;46(1):127-34.
In July of 1990, a mass mortality of striped dolphins due to morbillivirus infection had begun in the western Mediterranean. By 1992, the infection had spread to the eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea. Other dolphin species in the Mediterranean were not found to have died due to this infection, although it is possible for many species of marine mammals to be infected. In 1994, it was published that morbillivirus infection had caused Atlantic bottlenose dolphin mortality in the USA. Although striped dolphins are not residents of the Adriatic Sea, it was hypothesised that the infection could have spread from them to Adriatic bottlenose dolphins. From October 1990 through April 1997, 16 dolphin carcasses found along the Croatian Adriatic coast were examined. Tissues were examined by light microscopy for syncytia and inclusion bodies, histopathologic lesions characteristic of dolphin morbillivirus infection, and by detection of morbilliviral RNA by a reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). No signs of morbillivirus infection were found in the examined animals. It was concluded that this infection had not spread to dolphins of the Adriatic Sea up until that date.
1990年7月，西地中海开始出现条纹原海豚因麻疹病毒感染而大规模死亡的情况。到1992年，感染已蔓延至东地中海和爱琴海。地中海的其他海豚物种未被发现因这种感染而死亡，尽管许多海洋哺乳动物物种都有可能被感染。1994年，有报道称麻疹病毒感染在美国导致了大西洋宽吻海豚死亡。虽然条纹原海豚并非亚得里亚海的常住物种，但据推测，这种感染可能已从它们传播到亚得里亚海宽吻海豚身上。从1990年10月到1997年4月，对在克罗地亚亚得里亚海沿岸发现的16具海豚尸体进行了检查。通过光学显微镜检查组织中的多核巨细胞和包涵体，这是海豚麻疹病毒感染的特征性组织病理学病变，并通过逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）检测麻疹病毒RNA。在所检查的动物中未发现麻疹病毒感染的迹象。得出的结论是，截至那时，这种感染尚未传播到亚得里亚海的海豚身上。
