Virulence of Infectious Salmon Anemia Virus (ISAV) in Six Japanese Fish Species by Intraperitoneal Injection

Abstract

Six Japanese fish species were intraperitoneally inoculated with an infectious salmon anemia virus (ISAV) isolate (10^6.4 TCID₅₀/fish). In experiment #1, the cumulative mortality in Atlantic salmon and ayu was 100% and 40%, respectively. In experiment #2, Atlantic salmon, sockeye salmon and Japanese char had cumulative mortalities of 95%, 25% and 0%, respectively. ISAV RNA was detected from all injected Japanese char. In experiment #3, no mortality was observed in Biwa gudgeon, common carp and goldfish. These results suggest that ISAV can be pathogenic to ayu and sockeye salmon and, however, the susceptibilities of both fishes to ISAV are lower than that of Atlantic salmon.