Systematic Determination of Herpesvirus in Free-Ranging Cetaceans Stranded in the Western Mediterranean: Tissue Tropism and Associated Lesions

• Published in: Viruses Vol. 13; no. 11; p. 2180
• Main Authors: Vargas-Castro, Ignacio, Melero, Mar, Crespo-Picazo, José Luis, Jiménez, María de Los Ángeles, Sierra, Eva, Rubio-Guerri, Consuelo, Arbelo, Manuel, Fernández, Antonio, García-Párraga, Daniel, Sánchez-Vizcaíno, José Manuel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 28.10.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Alphaherpesvirinae - genetics; Alphaherpesvirinae - isolation & purification; Amino acids; Animals; Caniformia; Cattle; Central Nervous System; Cetacea; Cetacea - virology; coinfection; Coinfection - veterinary; Coinfection - virology; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Dermatitis; Digestive tract; Disease; DNA; dolphin; Dolphins & porpoises; Encephalitis; Female; Gammaherpesvirinae - genetics; Gammaherpesvirinae - isolation & purification; Herpes viruses; Herpesviridae - classification; Herpesviridae - genetics; Herpesviridae - isolation & purification; Herpesviridae Infections - veterinary; Herpesviridae Infections - virology; herpesvirus; Infections; latency; Lesions; marine mammal; Marine mammals; morbillivirus; Morbillivirus - genetics; Morbillivirus - isolation & purification; Morbillivirus Infections - veterinary; Morbillivirus Infections - virology; Neonates; Nucleotide sequence; Penis; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Reproductive system; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; RNA viruses; Skin; Spain; Stranding; Tegument; Tropism; Spain; United States > US; Germany; dolphin; gammaherpesvirus; herpesvirus; latency; morbillivirus; CNS; mRNA; alphaherpesvirus; coinfection; marine mammal
• ISSN: 1999-4915; 1999-4915
• DOI: 10.3390/v13112180

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 cetaceans 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 herpesvirus-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 identified. Most amplified sequences belonged to the subfamily, but a greater variation was found in sequences. This is the first report of systematic herpesvirus DNA and RNA determination in free-ranging cetaceans. Nine (19.14%) were infected 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 attributable to concomitant etiologies or were nonspecific. It is necessary to investigate the possible role of herpesvirus infection in those cases.