Detection and Genetic Analysis of Aquabirnaviruses in Subclinically Infected Aquarium Fish

Abstract

Abstract. Aquabirnaviruses (ABVs) cause serious diseases in a variety of fish species used worldwide in aquaculture and have been isolated from a variety of healthy fish and shellfish species. The type species of ABV is Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV), which is the causative agent of a highly contagious disease in juvenile salmonid fish. Marine birnaviruses (MABVs) have been isolated from various marine fish and shellfish. In Korea, ABV infection has been identified in several fish and shellfish. The current study presents sequence data from nested polymerase chain reaction products of 3 ABV strains obtained from different species of asymptomatic aquarium fish collected from a private commercial aquarium in Korea. Phylogenetic analysis of these strains, based on the partial nucleotide sequence of the VP2/NS junction, placed them within the genogroup VII (95-99% bootstrap confidence), which also contains MABV. The subclinically infected fish may be a source of MABV infection for other susceptible fish species inside the aquarium and potentially represent a serious challenge for the management of MABV infections. Additionally, the presence of MABV in these subclinically infected aquarium fish imported from other countries indicates that there is a need for the establishment of appropriate quarantine practices.

Co‐infection of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) with infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus and Flavobacterium psychrophilum

“…Although these pathogens were observed in various locations of the pancreas, both pathogens were detected in the same endothelial cells of the pronephros and mid‐kidney (Evensen & Lorenzen, ). Aquaviridae, including marine aquabirnavirus (MABV) infections, have also been associated with disease and mortality rates in both marine and cultured finfish (McCowan et al, ; Shin et al, ). These viral infections can also be found in association with other bacteria ( Streptococcus iniae, Edwardsiella tarda and Vibrio spp.…”

Isolation of Streptococcus agalactiae and an aquatic birnavirus from doctor fish Garra rufa L

“…Aquabirnaviruses have been isolated from aquatic animals throughout the world and infectious pancreatic necrosis is a significant disease of farmed salmonids in Ireland [ 21 ]. Although this is the first isolation in Ireland of an aquatic birnavirus, other than IPNV, mortalities due to birnavirus infections in tropical fish have been reported previously [ 10 , 22 ]. Sequence analysis indicated that the isolate was similar to other viruses, such as BSNV, isolated from tropical fish [ 9 ] and initially assigned to a separate serogroup (C) within the genus Aquabirnavirus .…”