Rijks JM †, van de Bildt MWG *#, Philippa JWD *#, Jensen T #, van der
Meulen K# , Heesterbeek JAP , Osterhaus ADME*, Kuiken T *#
† Dutch Wildlife
Health Centre, Institute of Virology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
* Institute of Virology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
# Seal Rehabilitation and Research Centre, Pieterburen, The Netherlands.
Department of Livestock Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University
of Utrecht, The Netherlands
In 2002, a phocine distemper virus (PDV) epidemic killed many harbour seals
(Phoca vitulina) in northern Europe. Because this is only the second recorded
PDV epidemic, our main objectives were to describe it in detail and to compare
it with the 1988 epidemic.
We collected stranding data of seals from the Dutch
coast between June and November 2002 (n = 2284), observed seals under rehabilitation
(n = 19), and performed necropsies (n = 1315).
More than 99% of stranded seals
were harbour seals, of which 17% were juvenile, 62% subadult, and 21% adult.
Important clinical signs were respiratory distress (100%) and nervous signs
(50%), and primary lesions were pulmonary consolidation and emphysema. By RT-PCR,
50% had infection with PDV, which showed more than 97% homology with the 1988
virus.
In conclusion, in 2002 PDV caused a propagating epidemic among harbour
seals with high mortality in all ages. The low genetic divergence suggests
that the 1988 and the 2002 PDV may have originated from a common reservoir.
The repeated occurrence of PDV epidemics causes high mortality in northern
European seals, and needs to be considered in their management.
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