Serogroup-specific Seasonality of Verotoxigenic Escherichia coli, Ireland

, although no specific lesions compatible with this infectious agent were observed. A pool containing all morbillivirus-positive PCR amplicons for animals 1 and 2 (GenBank accession nos. KT006289 and KT006290), a PCR amplicon for the brain sample from animal 2 (GenBank accession no. KT006291), and a PCR amplicon for the larynx from animal 3 were se-quenced. A BLAST search (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ blast/Blast.cgi) showed that amplified samples were nearly identical to reference PWMV sequences (GenBank accession nos. AF200817 [3] and FJ842381 [8]). The sequence obtained from animal 3 was too short and degenerated to be accurately classified as CeMV, although it showed high homology with PWMV and porpoise morbillivirus. It has been proposed that pilot whales might be enzo-otically infected with CeMV (10). These whales might be responsible for maintaining and transmitting CeMV over long distances or to other odontocetes. No die-offs have been observed in these species. However, an outbreak of a lethal morbillivirus infection in long-finned pilot whales caused by a dolphin morbillivirus strain occurred in the Mediterranean Sea during the end of October 2006–April 2007 (7). Results of this study support the previous hypothesis that pilot whales have a species-adapted morbillivirus but indicate that lethal infections are not as rare as previously believed (3). The tropism of the virus in these cases, the high number of multinucleated syncytial cells, and the severity of the lesions resemble the acute systemic symptoms observed in dolphins infected with morbillivirus (2). Thus, pilot whales in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean could be at risk for infection, especially in one of the main pilot whale–watching regions between La Gomera and Southern Tenerife Islands in the Canary Islands, which has >700,000 visitors each year. Acknowledgments We thank other members of the Canary Islands Cetacean Stranding Network (Society for the Study of Cetaceans in the Canary Islands and Canary Islands Conservation) for participating in this study. Osterhaust AD. Dolphin and porpoise morbilliviruses are genetically distinct from phocine distemper virus. et al. Pathologic and immunocytochemical studies of morbillivirus infection in striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba). Moeller RB, et al. Molecular genetic evidence of a novel morbillivirus in a long-finned pilot whale (Globicephalus melas). analysis of a new Cetacean morbillivirus from a short-finned pilot whale stranded in the Canary Garber RL, et al. Detection and analysis of diverse herpesviral species by consensus primer PCR. LETTERS LETTERS To the Editor: Globally, an increasing number of se-rogroups of verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) …