Emerging pathogens in Chilean fish farms

The Norwegian Veterinary Institute (NVI) has a great deal of experience and expertise with problems associated both with known fish pathogens as well as recently emerging disease, such as heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) and cardiomyopathy sy ndrome (CMS). Given the great degree of mobility for both products and live organisms, including humans, and other global factors such as environmental change and intensive food production, there appears to be an increase in the number of emerging pathoge ns as well as the appearance of known pathogens in new settings. We would like to formally initiate a project where Chilean partners and NVI can collaborate on both known and emerging infectious diseases in aquaculture with focus on Atlantic salmon. The i nitiation process will include meetings, general networking, establishment of trust and the exchange of samples and results. Our pilot project will focus on HSMI, a disease where NVI has a great deal of expertise and where a candidate virus was discovered by NVI researchers in 2010. The suspected virus is called piscine reovirus (PRV) and preliminary reports indicate that PRV is present in Chilean samples, but a definitive HSMI diagnosis has not yet been set. We would like to study the distribution of PRV in Chile and provide aid in managing the disease if a diagnosis can be confirmed. Plans for future projects include diseases such as CMS and potentially emerging diseases.