Sea Turtles Are Suffering From a Herpes Outbreak—And Pollution May Be to Blame

Climate change is but one battle the Great Barrier Reef is losing (the record for hottest year has been broken for the ninth time). An outbreak of Turtle herpes indicates that pollution is the other, according to New Scientist. That's right, turtle herpes.

Researchers from James Cook University investigated after seeing an outbreak of green sea turtles on the Australia's Great Barrier Reef Australia infected with a turtle-specific herpes. According toNew Scientist, the herpes leads to fibropapillomatosis, which causes tumors to grow on the turtles' shell, eyes, flippers, or internal organs.

"The tumours are benign but can grow up to 30 centimetres in size and block the turtles' vision," said Karina Jones, one of the researchers."This means they can't find food or see predators or boats." Jones also said turtles with tumors are more likely to catch other infections and thereforedie.

New Scientistreported the unpublished survey results from the James Cook researchers showed the herpesvirus was most present in turtles living in a small, touristy area of Cockle Bay at Magnetic Island. Of the turtles at Cockle Bay, about half had fibropapillomatosis, while less than 10 percent of turtles tested in the rest of Cockle bay had fibropapillomatosis.

Jones said researchers weren't able to find a direct cause but pollution was a prime suspect.

"We see these tumours in turtles in very localised hotspots around the world where there is heavy human activity," Jones.

Florida and Hawaii are also seeing more fibropapillomatosis in turtles, New Scientist reported.

Researchers plan on testing water samples for contaminants, such as fertilizer and chemicals, to see whether or not they're the cause of the outbreak.