Published Date: 2012-08-11 09:15:48
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR Infectious hematopoietic necrosis, salmon – Canada (04): (BC)
Archive Number: 20120811.1239127
INFECTIOUS HEMATOPOIETIC NECROSIS, SALMON – CANADA (04): BRITISH COLUMBIA
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A ProMED-mail post
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ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
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Date: 9 Aug 2012
Source: The Province [edited]
http://www.theprovince.com/news/company+kill+Atlantic+salmon+after+virus+outbreak/7064123/story.html
A British Columbia-based salmon farming company is expecting to receive an order very soon, forcing it to kill the more than 300 000 Atlantic salmon at a fish farm north of Vancouver.
Grieg Seafood says the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has confirmed an outbreak of the IHN virus as the company’s Culloden Point fish farm in Jervis Inlet on the Sunshine Coast.
A release from Grieg says while it awaits the order to destroy the fish, it is further isolating the farm and getting ready to depopulate the pens.
The farm was quarantined earlier this month after preliminary positive tests for the virus, which is not believed to be harmful to humans or Pacific salmon, but can be deadly to Atlantic salmon.
In May [2012], all the fish at a Mainstream Canada salmon farm on Vancouver Island were destroyed after the virus was confirmed in pens in the Tofino area.
Precautionary quarantines were also imposed in May on two other farms, including a Grieg operation on the Sunshine Coast, but final tests showed IHN was not present at those facilities.
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Communicated by:
ProMED-mail from HealthMap Alerts
promed@promedmail.org
[Apparently the tests for IHN virus have confirmed its presence in the stock of this fish farm, and the operators are awaiting orders to cull their salmon. As Mod. PMB commented on the 3 Aug ProMED-mail report of this incident (archive no. 20120807.1231558), "IHN virus is a rhabdovirus that causes acute, systemic disease in salmonid fish and also occurs in asymptomatic fish hosts. The virus is currently endemic throughout the Pacific Northwest of North America, with a contiguous range extending from Alaska to California and inland to Idaho. As the virus is native to that region, farmed salmon infected with IHNV does not represent a major concern for native wild populations. Because farmed salmon are kept at high densities, stress and high pathogen density may act in synergy predisposing the fish to develop clinical disease. Additionally, Atlantic salmon did not evolve in that ecosystem, for which the lack of coevolution might result in this species being more vulnerable."
A HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map showing the location of Vancouver Island can be accessed at http://healthmap.org/r/30rq. - Mod. TY]
See Also
Infectious hematopoietic necrosis, salmon – Canada (03): (BC) 20120807.1231558
Infectious hematopoietic necrosis, salmon – Canada (02): (BC) 20120614.1168492
Infectious hematopoietic necrosis, salmon – Canada: (BC) 20120518.1137106]
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Article source: http://healthmap.org/ln.php?1239127&promed&0