DEVELOPMENT OF A POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION-BASED ASSAY FOR THE DETECTION OF KOI HERPESVIRUS DNA IN FORMALIN FIXED, WAX EMBEDDED ARCHIVE TISSUES

摘要

The koi herpesvirus (KHV) was initially reported in association with high mortality among common and koi carp stocks in cyprinid aquaculture sites in Israel. Since then; the virus has also been reported in the USA, many European countries including the United Kingdom, Japan, Indonesia and other Asian countries. Not all those countries have experienced disease outbreaks; in many cases KHV was identified in imported fish. KHV was first isolated in the UK in 2000, but outbreaks of disease affecting Cyprinus carpio varieties had been reported there in previous years. Notably, an unexplained outbreak of disease causing high mortality in koi carp in 1999. The signs of disease observed at that time were consistent with KHV disease. In order to investigatethe possible causes of this outbreak and other unexplained carp mortality events in the UK, we have developed a PCR-based assay to detect KHV DNA in archive formalin-fixed, wax embedded tissues.