Inter-Research > DAO > v133 > n3 > p175-180  
DAO
Diseases of Aquatic Organisms

via Mailchimp

DAO 133:175-180 (2019)  -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03343

NOTE
Clinical signs in free-ranging Guiana dolphins Sotalia guianensis during a morbillivirus epidemic: case study in Sepetiba Bay, Brazil

Leonardo Flach1,*, Mariana B. Alonso1,2, Thaís Marinho1, Koen Van Waerebeek3, Marie-Françoise Van Bressem3

1Instituto Boto Cinza, Mangaratiba, Rio de Janeiro, CEP 23860-000, Brazil
2Radioisotopes Laboratory Eduardo Penna Franca (LREPF), Biophysics Institute Carlos Chagas Filho (IBCCF), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), CEP 21941-902, Brazil
3Cetacean Conservation Medicine Group, Peruvian Centre for Cetacean Research (CEPEC), Lima 20, Peru
*Corresponding author:

ABSTRACT: From November 2017 to March 2018, a cetacean morbillivirus (CeMV) outbreak caused an unprecedented mass mortality among Guiana dolphins Sotalia guianensis in Ilha Grande Bay and Sepetiba Bay, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Small boat surveys were conducted to document the behavior and clinical signs presented by diseased dolphins. We observed 5 abnormally behaving, disoriented Guiana dolphins on separate days, of which 1 died stranded and 2 sank. Signs of ataxia included difficulties with swimming and maintaining a course, balance and buoyancy. At least 40 other individuals were emaciated, and 10 photo-identified dolphins had miscellaneous skin lesions, some ulcerated. Labored breathing suggestive of airway obstruction was heard in several groups. These neurological, respiratory and cutaneous signs may comprise part of the clinical constellation of CeMV infection in dolphins. The combined threat of anthropogenic pressures and CeMV lethal disease is of concern for the survival of the Guiana dolphin population in Sepetiba Bay.


KEY WORDS: Clinical signs · Guiana dolphin · Die-off · Cetacean morbillivirus · South Atlantic · Disease · CeMV


Full text in pdf format
Supplementary material
Cite this article as: Flach L, Alonso MB, Marinho T, Van Waerebeek K, Van Bressem MF (2019) Clinical signs in free-ranging Guiana dolphins Sotalia guianensis during a morbillivirus epidemic: case study in Sepetiba Bay, Brazil. Dis Aquat Org 133:175-180. https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03343

Export citation
Share:    Facebook - - linkedIn

Next article