HSMI can be a fatal disease for Atlantic salmon. (Photo: FIS)
Method developed for detecting HSMI in salmon
(CHILE, 1/10/2011)
The Aquainnovo biotech firm has developed a method to detect an emerging, severe and highly contagious which can affect Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar).
This disease was first recorded in Norway in 1999 and has accumulated 676 cases in that country along its coast, between 2004 and 2009.
They have made findings in the United Kingdom however, suggesting that this pathology, not yet diagnosed in Chile, is probably in the process of expanding through the exchanging of processes associated with fish roe and salmon farming.
The analysis implemented by the Department of Molecular Biology of the Aquainnovo Diagnostic Laboratory, allows for them to detect the PRV viral agent (Piscine Reovirus), which is associated with HSMI (Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation) or disease of skeletal and cardiac muscle inflammation.
Fish affected by HSMI are characterized by a very low birth weight or anorexia, with abnormal swimming patterns. The analysis of post mortem or autopsy observation can bring out a pale heart, yellow liver, buildup of fluid in the abdomen (ascites), splenomegaly or enlarged spleen and petechiae (micro vascular leakage seen as red dots) in perivisceral fat.
Meanwhile, histologically they describe inflammation and myocardial necrosis and inflammation and necrosis of skeletal muscle. Mortality rates associated with HSMI generally are low and may reach 20 per cent. However, it has a high morbidity rate.
The disease usually appears in fish from five to nine months post entry into the sea, in individuals with a weight ranging from 0.4 to 1 kg.
The test implemented in Aquainnovo using the technique of Polymerase Chain "RT-PCR (Real-Time PCR) reaction, is in line with the constant need for vigilance in order to prevent and control infectious agents, which are absent in Chile and can cause infectious diseases that could contravene the recovery of the domestic production of Atlantic salmon.
Aquainnovo is the first company in Chile to implement the technique to detect the agent associated with HSMI.
Aquainnovo, founded in 2007 through initiatives and contributions from Empresas AquaChile S.A., with the strong support of the Government of Chile through its grant funds such as Innova Chile and the academic and scientific support of the University of Chile.
editorial@seafood.media
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Barrio industrial, Polpaico 037,
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Puerto Montt
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Región de Los Lagos, Reg. X
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Chile
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+56 65 2 433 763
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info@aquainnovo.com
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