East Coast dolphin deaths linked to virus
ASBURY PARK, N.J. -- A measles-like virus is most likely responsible for 357 bottlenose dolphin deaths recorded through Monday of this year from New York to North Carolina, according to federal officials.
And the killer outbreak may linger into next spring, said Teri Rowles of the federal Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program.
"Along the Atlantic seaboard, this is extraordinary," Rowles told reporters on a teleconference call Tuesday.
Scientists have confirmed that 32 of 33 dolphins tested have morbillivirus, which is naturally occurring, or are suspected to have had morbillivirus infections, she said.
"So we are now calling this a morbillivirus outbreak that extends currently from New York through Virginia for confirmed cases," said Rowles, whose program is within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service. In North Carolina, morbillivirus is also suspected in four dolphins north of Cape Hatteras.
Other factors may have weakened the dolphins' immune systems, making them more vulnerable to sickness. They include chemicals, other disease-causing microbes, biotoxins and expansion of the dolphins' range, according to officials and experts. The investigation is ongoing.
The dolphin die-off comes a quarter-century after 742 dead bottlenose dolphins were discovered along the Atlantic coast from New Jersey to Florida. Morbillivirus was eventually linked to their deaths in 1987-88, according to officials.
New Jersey death toll
This year's death toll in New Jersey is 72 through Monday, according to Maggie Mooney-Seus, spokeswoman for NOAA Fisheries.
But Robert Schoelkopf, director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, said he has counted 74 since July 9, the most recent of which was a badly decomposed, shark-scavenged dolphin carcass found at Cape May Point on Monday.
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East Coast dolphin deaths linked to virus