Screening for Influenza and Morbillivirus in Seals and Porpoises in the Baltic and North Sea.

ABSTRACT: Historically, the seals and harbour porpoises of the Baltic Sea and North Sea have been subjected to hunting, chemical pollutants and repeated mass mortalities, leading to significant population fluctuations. Despite the conservation implications and the zoonotic potential associated with viral disease outbreaks in wildlife, limited information is available on the circulation of viral pathogens in Baltic Sea seals and harbour porpoises. Here, we investigated the presence of the influenza A virus (IAV), the phocine distemper virus (PDV) and the cetacean morbillivirus (CeMV) in tracheal swabs and lung tissue samples from 99 harbour seals, 126 grey seals, 73 ringed seals and 78 harbour porpoises collected in the Baltic Sea and North Sea between 2002-2019. Despite screening 376 marine mammals

SUBMITTER: Stokholm I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10054458 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature