Deadly Seal Disease arrives in Sweden*

STOCKHOLM, July 9 (AFP) Jul 09, 2007

Authorities in Sweden on Monday detected a case of a deadly virus among
seals known as "seal plague" two weeks after it emerged in Denmark.

Past outbreaks of the virus have decimated seal populations.

Tests were carried out on a dead seal found at Vejbystrand in southern
Sweden, said Tero Harkonen, marine biology specialist at the country's
natural history museum.

Authorities detected the virus in seals at a reserve on the island of
Anholt between Denmark and Sweden in late June.

Previous outbreaks decimated the seal population at the Anholt reserve
in 1988 and 2002, when 60 percent and 30 percent of Denmark's seal
population died respectively. It also spread to other northern European
countries.

Some 10,000 seals died of the virus in 2002 in Sweden, amounting to
about 50 percent of the total population.

Harkonen said that some seals that had contracted the virus and survived
during the 2002 outbreak had been immunised, which could help limit the
number of deaths.