Identification, molecular and 1 phylogenetic analysis of poxvirus in skin lesions of 2 southern right whale.

FIORITO, CD.; PALACIOS, C.; GOLEMBA, M.; BRATANICH, A.; ARGUELLES, A.; FAZIO, A.; BERTELLOTTI, M.; LOMBARDO, DM.

DISEASES OF AQUATIC ORGANISMS

Inter-Research

Año: 2015 vol. 116 p. 157 - 163

0177-5103

Poxvirus skin disease has been reported in several cetaceans? species, principally in odontocetes, with only a single report in mysticetes. Southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) from Peninsula Valdes show a variety of skin lesions of unknown etiology and the number of these lesions has increased in the last years. Samples from dead whales were taken in order to determine the etiology of these lesions. One calf and one adult presented "ring? type lesions, characterized by a circumscribed and slightly raised area of skin. Lesions were histologically characterized by presence of microvesicles and vacuolated cells in the stratum spinosum, along with hyperplasia of the stratum corneum and eosinophilic inclusion bodies in the cytoplasm of the epithelial cells. Transmission electron microscopy shows aggregations of virions with typical poxvirus morphology. Polymerase chain reaction for cetacean poxvirus (CPV) DNA polymerase, DNA topoisomerase I and parapoxvirus DNA polymerase gene fragment were made, confirmed the presence of poxvirus in one sample. The phylogenetic analysis showed that the poxvirus detected belongs to the CPV-2 group. This is the first confirmed report of poxvirus in southern right whales in Argentina.