Ian Hewson, an expert in marine biology and assistant professor of Microbiology at Cornell University, discusses the origin of a virulent strain of the measles-like morbillivirus that is killing dolphins and whales.
Hewson says:
“The current measles-like virus is a morbillivirus, which occurs naturally as part of cetacean populations and causes mortality events like this sporadically. For example, I'm aware that it has caused animal mortality in the Mediterranean and previously on the East Coast.
“Morbillivirus is similar to a virus that affected pinnipeds on the West Coast of the U.S. in the 1990s. There, the virus was similar to canine distemper virus. In the current outbreak, it's probably a strain of the morbillivirus that is particularly lethal, similar to strains of human flu that come around every so often due to mutation of haemaglutten proteins.”
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