title: Cetacean Morbillivirus-Associated Pathology: Knowns and Unknowns.
abstract: The present minireview deals with the pathology of Cetacean Morbillivirus (CeMV) infection in free-ranging cetaceans. In this respect, while "classical" CeMV-associated lesions were observed in the lung, brain, and lymphoid tissues from striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) and pilot whales (Globicephala melas) which were victims of the 1990-1992 and 2006-2008 epidemics in the Western Mediterranean, an apparent reduction in CeMV neurovirulence, along with a different viral antigen's tissue and cell distribution, were found during the 2010-2011 and the 2013 outbreaks in the same area. Of remarkable concern are also the documented CeMV ability to induce maternally acquired infections in wild cetaceans, coupled with the progressively expanding geographic and host range of the virus in both Hemispheres, as well as in conjunction with the intriguing forms of "brain-only" morbilliviral infection increasingly reported in Mediterranean-striped dolphins. Future research in this area should address the virus-host interaction dynamics, with particular emphasis on the cell receptors specifying viral tissue tropism in relation to the different cetacean species and to their susceptibility to infection, as well as to the CeMV strains circulating worldwide.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo Teramo, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Di Guardo
authors.affiliation: Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Hygiene, University of Padova Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Sandro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mazzariol
keywords: Cetacean Morbillivirus; immunohistochemistry; pathogenesis; pathology; viral neuropathogenesis