Molecular study of a new strain of cetacean morbillivirus from a shortfin pilot whale
Conference in VIII Congreso de Ciencias Veterinarias y Biomedicas
April 28th, 2009
Belliere N., Esperon F. and Sanchez-Vizcaino JM.
Cetacean morbillivirus (CeMV) is the most pathogenic virus in cetaceans. It includes three
strains whose names refer to the species of odontocete from which it was initially isolated:
Dolphin morbillivirus (DMV), Porpoise morbillivirus (PMV) and Pilot Whale morbillivirus
(PWMV). The aim of this work was to complete a molecular characterization of a new strain
of CeMV obtained from the brain of a short finned pilot whale stranded dead around Canary
Islands with lesions compatible with morbilliviral disease. Phylogenetic trees including
sequences of all the morbillivirus species have shown a higher homology with PWMV, so this
strain is tentatively named “PWMV II”. Moreover, from the phylogenetic trees analysis and
an exhaustive bibliographical review we propose new names for the CeMV strains:“CeMV-1”
for DMV, “CeMV-2” for PMV and “CeMV-3” for PWMV
 | Servicio de Inmunología Viral y Medicina Preventiva (SUAT). Centro de Vigilancia Sanitaria Veterinaria (VISAVET). Universidad Complutense (UCM). |
| Departamento de Sanidad Animal. Facultad de Veterinaria. Universidad Complutense (UCM). |
 | Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal (CISA). Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA). |
