A PREVIOUSLY unknown virus could be contributing to the global decline in
numbers of marine mammals.
Australian scientists have found that lice infesting southern elephant seals
carry a type of arbovirus that might infect the brains of seals already weakened
by pollution, causing them to beach. It’s the first arbovirus to be found in
marine mammals, and the first known to be transmitted by lice.
Many marine mammals are in decline, and several species, such as the
Mediterranean monk seal, are seriously endangered. Pollutants are suppressing
the animals’ immune systems, and several recent population crashes have been
blamed on previously…
