TY - JOUR
T1 - Seabirds as potential vectors of penaeid shrimp viruses and the development of a surrogate laboratory model utilizing domestic chickens
AU - Vanpatten, Kristie A.
AU - Nunan, Linda M.
AU - Lightner, Donald V.
N1 - Funding Information:
Support for this research was provided by the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory Consortium Marine Shrimp Farming Program, CSREES, under Grant No. 2002-38808-01345 and by a special grant from the National Fisheries Institute. L. Ewer (L&M Farms, Tucson, AZ, USA) generously donated the chickens used in this study, and D. Stephens (Southern Star Shrimp Farms, Rio Hondo, TX, USA) is thanked for capturing and shipping the seagulls used in this study.
PY - 2004/11/26
Y1 - 2004/11/26
N2 - White spot syndrome virus (WSSV), Taura syndrome virus (TSV), Yellow head virus (YHV), and Infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV) have caused significant economic losses of farmed penaeid shrimp worldwide. Because the presence of large numbers of seabirds at shrimp grow-out ponds may be related to disease transmission, we hypothesized that these birds may be capable of carrying infectious viral particles in their feces from affected ponds to nearby unaffected ponds, and perhaps even to nearby farms. Because of the difficulties posed by working with wild fowl in a laboratory setting, a surrogate model, employing domestic white leghorn chickens (Gallus domesticus), was developed to compare with the detection and infectivity results from captive laughing gulls (Larus atricilla). Using standard histology, PCR/RT-PCR and infectivity challenges, this study demonstrated that IHHNV and TSV remained infectious for up to 1 day following passage through both chickens and seagulls, while no viable WSSV or YHV were found following passage through the gut of either bird species. This study demonstrated that wild seabirds may serve as mechanical vectors of TSV and IHHNV by passing infectious particles to aquatic environments in their feces, and that chickens may be used as a surrogate laboratory model for seabirds in such viral infectivity tests.
AB - White spot syndrome virus (WSSV), Taura syndrome virus (TSV), Yellow head virus (YHV), and Infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV) have caused significant economic losses of farmed penaeid shrimp worldwide. Because the presence of large numbers of seabirds at shrimp grow-out ponds may be related to disease transmission, we hypothesized that these birds may be capable of carrying infectious viral particles in their feces from affected ponds to nearby unaffected ponds, and perhaps even to nearby farms. Because of the difficulties posed by working with wild fowl in a laboratory setting, a surrogate model, employing domestic white leghorn chickens (Gallus domesticus), was developed to compare with the detection and infectivity results from captive laughing gulls (Larus atricilla). Using standard histology, PCR/RT-PCR and infectivity challenges, this study demonstrated that IHHNV and TSV remained infectious for up to 1 day following passage through both chickens and seagulls, while no viable WSSV or YHV were found following passage through the gut of either bird species. This study demonstrated that wild seabirds may serve as mechanical vectors of TSV and IHHNV by passing infectious particles to aquatic environments in their feces, and that chickens may be used as a surrogate laboratory model for seabirds in such viral infectivity tests.
KW - IHHNV
KW - PCR
KW - Seabirds
KW - TSV
KW - Viral transmission
KW - WSSV
KW - YHV
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=7044235109&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=7044235109&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.aquaculture.2004.08.012
DO - 10.1016/j.aquaculture.2004.08.012
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:7044235109
SN - 0044-8486
VL - 241
SP - 31
EP - 46
JO - Aquaculture
JF - Aquaculture
IS - 1-4
ER -