title: New insight into dolphin morbillivirus phylogeny and epidemiology in the northeast Atlantic: opportunistic study in cetaceans stranded along the Portuguese and Galician coasts.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Screening Atlantic cetacean populations for Cetacean Morbillivirus (CeMV) is essential to understand the epidemiology of the disease. In Europe, Portugal and Spain have the highest cetacean stranding rates, mostly due to the vast extension of coastline. Morbillivirus infection has been associated with high morbidity and mortality in cetaceans, especially in outbreaks reported in the Mediterranean Sea. However, scarce information is available regarding this disease in cetaceans from the North-East Atlantic populations. The presence of CeMV genomic RNA was investigated by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR in samples from 279 specimens stranded along the Portuguese and Galician coastlines collected between 2004 and 2015.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of sixteen animals (n = 16/279, 5.7 %) were positive. The highest prevalence of DMV was registered in striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) (n = 14/69; 20.3 %), slightly higher in those collected in Galicia (n = 8/33; 24.2 %) than in Portugal (n = 6/36; 16.7 %).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Phylogenetic analysis revealed that, despite the low genetic distances between samples, the high posterior probability (PP) values obtained strongly support the separation of the Portuguese and Galician sequences in an independent branch, separately from samples from the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands. Furthermore, evidence suggests an endemic rather than an epidemic situation in the striped dolphin populations from Portugal and Galicia, since no outbreaks have been detected and positive samples have been detected annually since 2007, indicating that this virus is actively circulating in these populations and reaching prevalence values as high as 24 % among the Galician samples tested.
authors: Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Lisbon, 1300-477, Lisbon, Portugal. mcarolinabento@fmv.ulisboa.pt.
authors: Maria Carolina Rocha de Medeiros
authors: MC
authors: Bento
authors: Department of Biology and CESAM, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal.|Portuguese Wildlife Society, Department of Biology, Minho University, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal.
authors: Catarina Isabel Costa Simões
authors: CI
authors: Eira
authors: Portuguese Wildlife Society, Department of Biology, Minho University, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal.|Department of Biology and CESAM, Minho University, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal.
authors: José Vitor
authors: JV
authors: Vingada
authors: Department of Biology and CESAM, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal.|Portuguese Wildlife Society, Department of Biology, Minho University, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal.
authors: Ana Luisa
authors: AL
authors: Marçalo
authors: Portuguese Wildlife Society, Department of Biology, Minho University, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal.|Department of Biology and CBMA, Minho University, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal.
authors: Marisa Cláudia Teixeira
authors: MC
authors: Ferreira
authors: Department of Biology and CESAM, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal.|Coordinadora para o Estudo dos Mamíferos Mariños, 36380, Gondomar, Pontevedra, Spain.
authors: Alfredo Lopez
authors: AL
authors: Fernandez
authors: Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Lisbon, 1300-477, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors: Luís Manuel Morgado
authors: LM
authors: Tavares
authors: Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Lisbon, 1300-477, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors: Ana Isabel Simões Pereira
authors: AI
authors: Duarte
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001267:Atlantic Ocean / Q000453:epidemiology; D002591:Cetacea / Q000821:virology*; D018103:Morbillivirus / Q000235:genetics*; D018185:Morbillivirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D010802:Phylogeny; D011174:Portugal / Q000453:epidemiology; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Cetacean morbillivirus; Dolphin morbillivirus; Eastern Atlantic; Striped dolphins