Hundreds of seals die as epidemic hits Europe

A DEADLY seal virus is sweeping across the seas of Northern Europe and is threatening to match the devastating epidemic of 14-years ago that wiped out half the seal population in those waters, according to an international study released last night.

Scientific tests on the carcasses confirm phocine distemper virus, which does not affect humans, has infected seal communities in Denmark, Sweden and The Netherlands, said the study published in the journal Science.

Populations had barely recovered from the 1988 disaster when the first seal victims were discovered in May. The disease spreads rapidly because seals travel hundreds of miles within a few days, and researchers said they found the identical virus from widely separated regions.

It has not yet peaked and the deaths will continue, said Albert Osterhaus of the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam. He heads a team researching the disease. Nearly 1,500 seals have perished this summer and washed onto beaches, said Bettina Reineking, a spokeswoman for Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, which monitors seal deaths from Germany.

The latest outbreak was discovered on the eastern Danish island of Anholt, but it is still unclear where it originated, the study said.

The virus usually causes severely matted eyes, runny noses and pneumonia, spreading from animal to animal through direct contact with body fluids or by scratching, clawing or biting.

Most seals actually die from other diseases caught because of a weakened immune systems, experts said. Mortality rates can vary from 5% to 60%, said John Harwood, a population biologist at St Andrews University in Scotland.

Breeding seals may be less inclined to travel long distances while nursing their young, he said.