Countermeasures against viral diseases of farmed fish

Farmed fish provide an increasing fraction of the human food supply, and are of major economic importance in many countries. As in the case of terrestrial agriculture, bringing together large numbers of animals of a single species (i.e., monoculture) increases the risk of infectious disease outbreaks, including viral infections. Aquaculture, in which farmed fish are kept at high population densities in close proximity with wild fish reservoirs, is ideal for the emergence of wild-type pathogens that exist benignly in local wild fish and/or the spreading of aquatic pathogens to wild fish that enter into or come into close proximity with net cages and with fish escaping from them. This paper provides a general review for the nonspecialist of viral diseases of farmed fish and how they could be prevented or treated. It has five principal objectives: (1) to provide an update on the most important and emerging viral diseases of salmonid aquaculture; (2) to review general aspects of innate antiviral defense against virus infections in fish, including recent advances in antiviral signaling; (3) to discuss current principles and practices of vaccinating fish; (4) to review antiviral drugs that have activity against viruses of farmed fish, and current barriers to employing them in aquaculture; and (5) to discuss the growing use of "functional feeds" in salmonid aquaculture to mitigate viral diseases. In conclusion, despite the challenging aquatic environment, it is expected that well thought-out combinations of vaccination and immunostimulants and/or antiviral drugs could provide solid protection against viral diseases of farmed fish

Whole-genome analysis of piscine reovirus (PRV) shows PRV represents a new genus in family Reoviridae and its genome segment S1 sequences group it into two separate sub-genotypes

Background: Piscine reovirus (PRV) is a newly discovered fish reovirus of anadromous and marine fish ubiquitous among fish in Norwegian salmon farms, and likely the causative agent of heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI). HSMI is an increasingly economically significant disease in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) farms. The nucleotide sequence data available for PRV are limited, and there is no genetic information on this virus outside of Norway and none from wild fish. Methods: RT-PCR amplification and sequencing were used to obtain the complete viral genome of PRV (10 segments) from western Canada and Chile. The genetic diversity among the PRV strains and their relationship to Norwegian PRV isolates were determined by phylogenetic analyses and sequence identity comparisons. Results: PRV is distantly related to members of the genera Orthoreovirus and Aquareovirus and an unambiguous new genus within the family Reoviridae. The Canadian and Norwegian PRV strains are most divergent in the segment S1 and S4 encoded proteins. Phylogenetic analysis of PRV S1 sequences, for which the largest number of complete sequences from different "isolates" is available, grouped Norwegian PRV strains into a single genotype, Genotype I, with sub-genotypes, Ia and Ib. The Canadian PRV strains matched sub-genotype Ia and Chilean PRV strains matched sub-genotype Ib. Conclusions: PRV should be considered as a member of a new genus within the family Reoviridae with two major Norwegian sub-genotypes. The Canadian PRV diverged from Norwegian sub-genotype Ia around 2007 ± 1, whereas the Chilean PRV diverged from Norwegian sub-genotype Ib around 2008 ± 1. </p

Use of reverse transcription-real time polymerase chain reaction (real time RT-PCR) assays with Universal Probe Library (UPL) probes for the detection and genotyping of infectious pancreatic necrosis virus strains isolated in Chile

Reverse transcription-real time polymerase chain reaction (real time RT-PCR) assay with Universal Probe Library (UPL) probes has been developed for the detection and genotyping of Chilean infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) isolates from infected cell culture. Partial nucleotide sequences (1175 bp) of the VP2 coding region from a selection of 7 Chilean IPNV isolates showed that they clustered into two main groups strongly correlated with Genogroups 1 and 5 proposed by Blake et al. (2001), corresponding to types West Buxton (WB) and Spajarup (Sp), respectively. Based on the VP2 gene sequences of those 7 Chilean isolates and different reference IPNV strains, 2 sets of candidate primer/UPL probes (# 8 and # 117) were designed and evaluated with a total of 32 field isolates isolated from Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) farms from 2006 to 2010 in Chile. The UPL probes clearly differentiated the same two major Genogroups that those recognized by sequencing analysis. Among the Chilean isolates examined, 18 yielded amplification with UPL probe # 8, and 14 with probe # 117, respectively corresponding to types Sp and WB, as demonstrated by typing by sequencing. Based on the findings reported below, it has been demonstrated that the combined real time RT-PCR protocol with UPLs approach was efficient in discriminating distinct Genogroups of IPNV cultured in fish cell lines and, therefore, recommended its use for detection and typing of IPN viruses. The study also confirmed the existence of two IPNV type strains in Chilean salmonid aquaculture

Infectious salmon anaemia virus (ISAV) in Chilean Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) aquaculture

Abstact: Infectious salmon anaemia (ISA) is a serious disease of marine-farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) caused by ISA virus (ISAV), which belongs to the genus Isavirus, family Orthomyxoviridae. ISA is caused by virulent ISAV strains with deletions in a highly polymorphic region (HPR) of the hemagglutinin-esterase (HE) protein (designated virulent ISAV-HPR∆). This study shows the historic dynamics of ISAV-HPR∆ and ISAV-HPR0 in Chile, the genetic relationship among ISAV-HPR0 reported worldwide and between ISAV-HPR0 and ISAV-HPR∆ in Chile, and reports the 2013 ISA outbreak in Chile. The first ISA outbreak in Chile occurred from mid-June 2007 to 2010 and involved the virulent ISAV-HPR7b, which was then replaced by a low pathogenic ISAV-HPR0 variant. We analyzed this variant in 66 laboratory-confirmed ISAV-HPR0 cases in Chile in comparison to virulent ISAV-HPR∆ that caused two new ISA outbreaks in April 2013. Multiple alignment and phylogenetic analysis of HE sequences from all ISAV-HPR0 viruses allowed us to identify three genomic clusters, which correlated with three residue patterns of ISAV-HPR0 (360PST362, 360PAN362 and 360PAT362) in HPR. The virus responsible for the 2013 ISAV-HPR∆ cases in Chile belonged to ISAV-HPR3 and ISAV-HPR14, and in phylogenetic analyses, both clustered with the ISAV-HPR0 found in Chile. The ISAV-HPR14 had the ISAV-HPR0 residue pattern 360PAT362, which is the only type of ISAV-HPR0 variant found in Chile. This suggested to us that the 2013 ISAV-HPR∆ re-emerged from ISAV-HPR0 that is enzootic in Chilean salmon aquaculture and were not new introductions of virulent ISAV-HPR∆ to Chile. The clinical presentations and diagnostic evidence of the 2013 ISA cases indicated a mixed infection of ISAV with the ectoparasite Caligus rogercresseyi and the bacterium Piscirickettsia salmonis, which underscores the need for active ISAV surveillance in areas where ISAV-HPR0 is enzootic, to ensure early detection and control of new ISA outbreaks, as it is considered a risk factor. This is the first report of ISA linked directly to the presence of ISAV-HPR0, and provides strong evidence supporting the contention that ISAV-HPR0 shows a strong relationship to virulent ISAV-HPR∆ viruses and the possibility that it could mutate to virulent ISAV-HPR∆