Dolphins found dead on NC beaches have disease

WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) – Marine biologists say tissue samples from two dolphins that washed ashore in southeastern North Carolina tested positive for a disease that has killed almost 600 dolphins along the East Coast.

Marine Mammal Stranding Program co-director Ann Pabst said the two bottle-nosed dolphins were found last one, one on Kure Beach and one at Surf City.

She says the dolphins tested positive for morbillivirus, a measles-like disease. The disease has been seen mostly north of North Carolina. Marine biologists say it has to run its course.

Pabst says samples from a third dead dolphin are also being sent to a lab to check for the disease.

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