title: Dolphin Morbillivirus and Toxoplasma gondii coinfection in a Mediterranean fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although Morbillivirus and Toxoplasma gondii have emerged as important pathogens for several cetaceans populations over the last 20 years, they have never been identified together in a Mysticete. In particular, morbilliviral infection has been never described in the Mediterranean fin whale population.
  
  
  METHODS
  On January 2011 an adult male of fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) stranded along the Tyrrhenian coastline of Italy. During necropsy, tissue samples from heart, skeletal muscle, mesenteric lymph nodes, liver, spleen, lung, and kidney were collected and subsequently analyzed for Morbillivirus and Toxoplasma gondii by microscopic and molecular methods. Following the detailed necropsy carried out on this whale, molecular analysis revealed, for the first time, the simultaneous presence of a Dolphin Morbillivirus (DMV) and T. gondii infection coexisting with each other, along with high organochlorine pollutant concentrations, with special reference to DDT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This report, besides confirming the possibility for Mysticetes to be infected with DMV, highlights the risk of toxoplasmosis in sea water for mammals, already immunodepressed by concurrent factors as infections and environmental contaminants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padova, AGRIPOLIS-Viale dell'Università, 16, 35020 Legnaro, Italy. sandro.mazzariol@unipd.it
authors.forename: Sandro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mazzariol
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marcer
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Mignone
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Serracca
authors.forename: Mariella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goria
authors.forename: Letizia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Marsili
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Di Guardo
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Casalone
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated; D008297:Male; D008522:Mediterranean Sea / Q000453:epidemiology; D018103:Morbillivirus / Q000145:classification*; D018185:Morbillivirus Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014124:Toxoplasmosis, Animal / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D014907:Whales
chemical_list: D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical