Susceptibility of Grey (Halichoerus grypus) and Harp (Phoca groenlandica) Seals to the Influenza Virus and Mycoplasma of Epizootic Pneumonia of Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina)

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Abstract
Six gray, H. grypus, and 12 harp, P. groenlandica, seals were inoculated intratracheally with lung homogenate containing influenza virus A/seal/Mass/1/80 and mycoplasma from harbor seals, P. vitulina, which had died in an epizootic of pneumonia. The gray seals were refractory to infection; some of the harp seals developed mild pneumonia. Virus was recovered from 4 of 10 harp seals necropsied, and antibodies were produced in 2 survivors. The mycoplasma given alone to 2 gray seals did not replicate or produce infection and was recovered from only 1 of 12 harp seals inoculated. Ninety-nine gray, 102 harp, 14 harbor and 7 hooded seals (Cystophora cristata) from eastern Canada were examined and antibodies to avian influenza A/seal/Mass/1/80 were found in 3 adult male gray seals from Sable Island [Nova Scotia, Canada]; this virus is apparently adaptable to other seal species. Related forms of the virus are highly suspect as the cause of past epizootics, and one is currently responsible for a new outbreak of pneumonia in New England harbor seals.