Dear MARMAM community, My co-authors and I are pleased to announce a new publication that arises from our research on cetacean herpesvirus in cetaceans stranded on the Spanish Mediterranean coast between 2010 and 2013.
Vargas‐Castro, I.; Melero, M.; Crespo‐Picazo, J.L.; Jiménez, M.A.; Sierra, E.; Rubio‐Guerri, C.; Arbelo, M.; Fernández, A.; García‐Párraga, D.; Sánchez‐Vizcaíno, J.M. *Systematic Determination of Herpesvirus in Free‐Ranging Cetaceans Stranded in the Western Mediterranean: Tissue Tropism and Associated Lesions.* Viruses 2021, 13, 2180. https://doi.org/10.3390/ v13112180 *Abstract*: *The monitoring of herpesvirus infection provides useful information when assessing marine mammals’ health. This paper shows the prevalence of herpesvirus infection (80.85%) in 47 ce-taceans stranded on the coast of the Valencian Community, Spain. Of the 966 tissues evaluated, 121 tested positive when employing nested-PCR (12.53%). The largest proportion of herpesvi-rus-positive tissue samples was in the reproductive system, nervous system and tegument. Herpesvirus was more prevalent in females, juveniles and calves. More than half the DNA PCR positive tissues contained herpesvirus RNA, indicating the presence of actively replicating virus. This RNA was most frequently found in neonates. Fourteen unique sequences were identi-fied. Most amplified sequences belonged to the Gammaherpesvirinae subfamily, but a greater variation was found in Alphaherpesvirinae sequences. This is the first report of systematic herpesvirus DNA and RNA determination in free-ranging cetaceans. Nine (19.14%) were in-fected with cetacean morbillivirus and all of them (100%) were coinfected with herpesvirus. Lesions similar to those caused by herpesvirus in other species were observed, mainly in the skin, upper digestive tract, genitalia and central nervous system. Other lesions were also at-tributable to concomitant etiologies or were nonspecific. It is necessary to investigate the pos-sible role of herpesvirus infection in those cases.* The article is free for download at the link: https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/13/11/2180 or could request in researchgate or to me at: [email protected] Sincerely, *Ignacio Vargas Castro* DVM, PhD Student Viral Immunology and Preventive Medicine Unit (SUAT) VISAVET Health Surveillance Centre & Animal Health Department Universidad Complutense Madrid Av. Puerta de Hierro, s/n. 28040 Madrid. [email protected] <https://www.sanidadanimal.info/en/> This message is private and confidential and it is intended exclusively for the addressee. If you receive this message by mistake, you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please inform the sender and delete the message and attachments from your system, as it is completely forbidden for you to use this information, according to the current legislation. No confidentiality nor any privilege regarding the information is waived or lost by any mistransmission or malfunction. The personal data herein will be collected in the file "Correoweb", under the ownership of the Vice-Rectorate for Information Technologies, in which those interested may exercise their right to access, rectify, erasure or right to object the contents (article 15-21 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679, General Data Protection Regulation). Before printing this mail please consider whether it is really necessary: the environment is a concern for us all.
_______________________________________________ MARMAM mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
