Seal Distemper Outbreak Spreads to Sweden
Date: 11-Jul-07
Country: SWEDEN
Phocine distemper virus (PDV) has killed about 100 seals in Danish waters since the outbreak was discovered more than two weeks ago on the island of Anholt, located between Sweden and Denmark.
Kristin Johansson, a researcher at Sweden's Museum of National History, said at least seven seals found over the past two days bore signs of having died from PDV, the same disease that killed thousands of seals in the same area in outbreaks in 1988 and 2002.
She said further tests were needed to confirm the presence of the disease.
The dead seals were found along Sweden's south-west coast and samples taken from the animals will now be analysed, Johansson said.
(Additional reporting by Gelu Sulugiuc in Copenhagen)