Continued presence of phocine distemper virus in the Dutch Wadden Sea seal population
Visser, I.K.; Vedder, E.J.; Vos, H.W.; van de Bildt, M.W.; Osterhaus, A.D.
Veterinary Record 133(13): 320-322
1993
ISSN/ISBN: 0042-4900 PMID: 8236669 Document Number: 410594
From 1988 to 1992, serum samples from harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) and grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) admitted to the Seal Rehabilitation and Research Centre at Pieterburen in the Netherlands from the Dutch Wadden Sea were tested by ELISA for morbillivirus specific serum antibodies. The data given showed that during the 5-year-period morbillivirus specific serum antibodies were present in a large proportion of the seals admitted to the centre; in 1992, 26 of 34 baby seals and all 4 juvenile and the one subadult seal were positive upon arrival. These data indicate that phocid distemper virus-1 has continued to circulate among both harbour and grey seals in the Dutch Wadden Sea since its introcution in 1988.