#morbillivirus

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Health and Stranding Lab scientists say they are concerned after three striped dolphins stranded on east Oʻahu shorelines over seven days and tested positive for Brucella ceti, a bacterial infection that can transfer from animals to humans.

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Health and Stranding Lab scientists say they are concerned after three striped dolphins stranded on east Oʻahu shorelines over seven days and tested positive for Brucella ceti, a bacterial infection that can transfer from animals to humans.

For the first time, researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi Health and Stranding Lab have successfully detected Fraser’s morbillivirus, which can cause respiratory and neurological disease, in the feces of a dolphin. The findings published in Marine Mammal Science provide a new tool to identify and monitor threats faced by Hawaiʻi’s marine mammals.

After two years of investigating the cause of death of a Fraser’s dolphin that was stranded on Maui in 2018, researchers discovered a novel strain of morbillivirus, a marine mammal disease responsible for deadly outbreaks among dolphins and whales worldwide.