DAO prepress abstract  -  doi: 10.3354/dao01915

ABSTRACT: A bottlenose dolphin, stranded on the Canary Islands in 2001, exhibited non-suppurative encephalitis. No molecular detection of cetacean morbillivirus (CeMV) was found but a herpesviral-specific band of 250 bp was detected in lung and brain. The sequenced herpesviral PCR product was compared with Genbank sequences, obtaining 98% homology (p-distance of 0.02) with human herpesvirus 1 (Herpes simplex virus 1 or HSV-1). This is the first report of a Herpes simplex-like infection in a stranded dolphin.