Black sea: dolphin deaths

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.blik.ua/content/view/24745/39/

Google translation:

Dolphins die
Ukraine Monday, 31 August 2009
Dolphins die Scientists are sounding the alarm: in the Black Sea killing dolphins! Experts say the blame for the terrible virus. Salvation from him yet invented. This year, the bank jumped 23 dolphin. 13 of them - in July.

Similar cases were recorded and the Black Sea coast of Turkey. Dolphins lose their orientation and coordination of movements, showered on its side and dumped on dry land.

?It seems that this morbillivirusnaya infection. To dolphins, it is in mortal danger. The main manifestations of the disease - encephalitis, pneumonia and secondary immunodeficiency. Cases of transmission of this terrible disease to people not yet known. Since animals are specialists, and no one caught ?, - told? BLIC ?Chairman of the Board of the Black Sea Marine Mammal Alex Birkun.

First outbreak of the disease was registered in the Black Sea in 1994. Then it confirmed in laboratories in Canada and Germany. ?Three years ago a wave of disease re-started in the Mediterranean Sea. It seems that now she has reached the Black Sea ?, - said Birkun.

Unfortunately, to help these beautiful animals, no one can. ?The disease was registered only twenty years ago. Methods of treatment have not been developed by scientists ?, - the specialist said. All that can be done by rescuers - to stab a dolphin with vitamins, antibiotics, sedatives. But these methods only for the time alleviate the suffering and will delay their demise.

One of the causes of this dreadful disease - ecological condition of the Black Sea. ?Outbreaks occur during the hot summer. Development of the disease contributes to the accumulation in the body of toxic substances that weaken the immune system of the animal. Moreover, these substances are transferred and the baby with mother's milk ?, - said Birkun.

[tropical]

Re: Black sea: dolphin deaths

#1: "Development of the disease contributes to the accumulation in the body of toxic substances that weaken the immune system of the animal."


That could be switched in:
the accumulation of toxic substances in the body weaken the immune system of the animal, which contributes to disease development.

As it is already founded to be the case:

http://cengagesites.com/academic/assets/sites/2711_55312_15_Ch15_346-388.indd.pdf

Page 25
...
Biomagnifi cation of other chlorinated hydrocarbons
has also aff ected other species. Polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs), fluids once widely used to cool and insulate electrical
devices and to strengthen wood or concrete, may be
responsible for the behavior changes and declining fertility
of some populations of seals and sea lions on islands off the
California coast. PCBs have also been implicated in a
deadly viral epidemic among dolphins in the western
Mediterranean. Ingestion of the chemical may have severely
weakened the dolphins? immune system and made it
impossible for them to fi ght the infection?up to 10,000
dolphins died during the summer of 1990. Even more
alarming to biologists is the recent discovery that the
nearshore dolphins off U.S. coasts are intensely contaminated.
Th e concentration of chlorinated hydrocarbons in
these animals exceeds 6,900 parts per million (ppm)?
concentrations high enough to disrupt the dolphins? immune
systems, hormone production, reproductive success,
neural function, and ability to stave off cancers.5 Th ese
levels vastly exceed the 50 ppm limit the U.S. government
considers hazardous for animals, and the 5 ppm considered
the maximum acceptable level for humans! Even
sperm whales?animals that rarely frequent coastal waters?
are contaminated. Investigations continue, as do
probes into the effects of dioxin and other synthetic organic
poisons accumulating in the oceanic sink.
...