Detection of cetacean morbillivirus in dolphin feces and the potential application for live cetacean health monitoring Marine Mammal Science

Cetacean mortality resulting from infectious disease is significant. Viral, bacterial, fungal, and parasitic infections have been identified as causes of death from many regions of the world, with infectious disease responsible for up to 60% of deaths in stranded cetaceans when quantified according to natural and anthropogenic causes from isolated areas (Cuvertoret-Sanz et al., 2020; Diaz-Delgado et al., 2018). Cetacean morbillivirus (CeMV) has been a leading cause of death in single and mass stranding events occurring worldwide since the 1980s (Cunha et al., 2021; Cuvertoret-Sanz et al., 2020; Marutani et al., 2022). All that is known of CeMV infections in free-ranging cetaceans comes from necropsy and cause of death investigations on stranded animals (Van Bressem et al., 2014), sampling of cetaceans harvested by indigenous hunters (Nielsen et al., 2000), serology on odontocetes sampled during capture release studies (Black et al., 2019; Bossart et al., 2017; Stone et al., 2005), and from the exhale of two live humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae; Groch et al., 2020). Grant no. NA21NMF4390407