Cetacean diseases and health

The invisible diseases of giants

Dolphin morbillivirus, brucellosis, anisakis parasites, tumours linked to PCBs: cetaceans are threatened by a whole range of diseases, sometimes made worse by chemical pollution. This database lists the main documented diseases and their impacts.

See also

Diseases are made worse by human pressures: chemical pollution (PCBs), ocean noise, strandings in France and bycatch.

Emerging diseases: morbillivirus in the front line

The epizootics caused by morbillivirus (CeMV, Cetacean Morbillivirus) devastated Mediterranean populations of striped dolphin in 1990-1992 and of common bottlenose dolphin in 2013. The virus, close to the measles virus, attacks the central nervous and immune systems. Outbreaks are often correlated with the chronic immune weakening linked to PCBs.

Other documented diseases: brucellosis (Mediterranean strandings), toxoplasmosis (St Lawrence beluga), papillomatosis (Stenella dolphins), PCB-related tumours (St Lawrence beluga, Béland et al. 1991), barotrauma injuries (active military sonar and Cuvier’s beaked whale). The systematic necropsies carried out by Pelagis, the German ITAW and the Cetacean Pathology Lab feed into global epidemiological surveillance.