Isolation of nodavirus from Scottish farmed halibut, Hippoglossus hippoglossus (L)

Abstract

First paragraph: Fish nodaviruses belonging to the genus betanodavirus are the aetiological agents of viral nervous necrosis (VNN), also referred to as viral encephalopathy and retinopathy (VER), or fish encephalitis (Mori, Nakai, Arimoto, Mushiake & Furasawa 1992; Comps, Pepin & Bonami 1994). This disease is characterized by the development of a vacuolating encephalopathy and retinopathy associated with arrays of virus-like particles in infected neurons. Since the first report of the disease in sea bass, Dicentrarchus labra (L.), (Bellance & Gallet de Saint Aurin 1988), VNN has been identified in more than twenty species of marine fish in Europe, Asia, Japan and Australia (reviewed in Munday & Nakai 1997; Muroga, Furusawa & Furusawa 1998). In several of these species, VNN-associated mortalities approaching 100% have been reported (Munday & Nakai 1997) and thus, VNN represents a significant barrier to commercial aquaculture activities. In this report, we document the occurrence of nodavirus infection in the UK for the first time.