New Strain of Deadly Marine Mammal Virus Identified in Stranded Maui Dolphin

New Strain of Deadly Marine Mammal Virus Identified in Stranded Maui Dolphin

Aug 12, 2021

When a Fraser's dolphin washed up dead in Maui in 2018, researchers did not suspect that this could be the first sign of a deadly outbreak.

But now, a paper published in Scientific Reports on Monday reveals that the dolphin was infected with a previously unknown strain of morbillivirus, a disease related to human measles and smallpox that has killed off large numbers of cetaceans — whales, dolphins and porpoises — around the world.

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