Canine distemper in an isolated population of fishers (Martes pennanti) from California

Stefan M. Keller, Mourad Gabriel, Karen A. Terio, Edward J. Dubovi, Elizabeth Van Wormer, Rick Sweitzer, Reginald Barret, Craig Thompson, Kathryn Purcell, Linda Munson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

Four fishers (Martes pennanti) from an insular population in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, USA died as a consequence of an infection with canine distemper virus (CDV) in 2009. Three fishers were found in close temporal and spatial relationship; the fourth fisher died 4 mo later at a 70 km distance from the initial group. Gross lesions were restricted to hyperkeratosis of periocular skin and ulceration of footpads. All animals had necrotizing bronchitis and bronchiolitis with syncytia and intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies. Inclusion bodies were abundant in the epithelia of urinary bladder and epididymis but were infrequent in the renal pelvis and the female genital epithelia. No histopathologic or immunohistochemical evidence for virus spread to the central nervous system was found. One fisher had encephalitis caused by Sarcocystis neurona and another had severe head trauma as a consequence of predation. The H gene nucleotide sequence of the virus isolates from the first three fishers was identical and was 99.6% identical to the isolate from the fourth fisher. Phylogenetically, the isolates clustered with other North American isolates separate from classical European wildlife lineage strains. These data suggest that the European wildlife lineage might consist of two separate subgroups that are genetically distinct and endemic in different geographic regions. The source of infection as well as pertinent transmission routes remained unclear. This is the first report of CDV in fishers and underscores the significance of CDV as a pathogen of management concern.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1035-1041
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of wildlife diseases
Volume48
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • California
  • Canine distemper
  • Epizootic
  • European wildlife lineage
  • Fisher
  • Hemagglutinin
  • Martes pennanti
  • Mustelidae

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Ecology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Canine distemper in an isolated population of fishers (Martes pennanti) from California'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this