Seamus Kennedy* , Thijs Kuiken†, Paul D. Jepson‡, Robert Deaville‡, Morag Forsyth§, Tom Barrett§, Marco W.G. van de Bildt†, Albert D.M.E. Osterhaus†, Tariel Eybatov¶, Callan Duck#, Aidyn Kydyrmanov**, Igor Mitrofanov††, and Susan Wilson‡‡

Author affiliations: *Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK; †Seal Rehabilitation and Research Center, Pieterburen, The Netherlands; ‡Institute of Zoology, Regents Park, London, UK; §Institute of Animal Health, Pirbright, Surrey, UK; ¶Geological Institute of the Azerbaijan Republic Academy of Sciences, Baku, Azerbaijan; #Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St. Andrews, Fife, UK; **Laboratory of Virus Ecology, Institute of Microbiology and Virology, Almaty, Kazakhstan; ††Akademgorodok, Institute of Zoology, Almaty, Kazakhstan; ‡‡Caspian Environment Programme Ecotoxicology Project, Portaferry, Northern Ireland, UK