Global News - August 2007
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Dolphins hit by deadly virus in the Med
Fri 31 August 2007 12:15 UK — Europe
Environmental experts from the government in Spain have asked for help from other Mediterranean countries to help track the spread of a deadly virus that could put a species of dolphins in the area at risk.
In a statement, Spain's environmental ministry said that the morbillivirus - which causes measles in its human form - had been found in a number of striped dolphins recently washed up on beaches in the country.
A statement from the government department explained: "According to analyses which were carried out, the virus identified is practically the same as the one that caused a massive epidemic in the 1990s and which can affect other species of cetacean such as whales."
Spain asked other Mediterranean countries to begin to collect samples of any dolphins washed up.
The samples are set to be analysed at the University of Valencia in eastern Spain.
Environmental experts will meet to discuss the problem in Spain on September 13th.
Recently, conservationists have expressed concern that the Mediterranean population of striped dolphins could be in danger as a result of pollution, disease, busy shipping lanes and heavy incidental catches in fishing nets.
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