Non-purulent meningoencephalomyelitis of a Pacific striped dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens). The first evidence of morbillivirus infection in a dolphin at the Pacific Ocean around Japan.

On March 22, 1998, a mature, male, hyposthenic Pacific striped dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens) was stranded at Aoshima Beach in Miyazaki prefecture, Japan. A necropsy performed 14 hr after death revealed mild diffuse congestion and edema of the leptomeninges and mild pulmonary atelectasis. Histopathologically, non-purulent inflammatory were observed throughout the cerebrum, thalamus, midbrain, pons, medulla oblongata, and spinal cord. Hematoxylin and eosin stain revealed no viral inclusion bodies. Immunohistochemistry using a monoclonal antibody against nucleoprotein of canine distemper virus (CDV-NP) revealed a number of CDV-NP-positive granular deposits in the cytoplasm and cell processes of the degenerating or intact neurons. The present paper is a first report of spontaneously occurred morbillivirus infection in a dolphin at the Pacific Ocean around Japan.