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Heart and skeletal muscle inflammation in Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L.: a new infectious disease
Author(s) -
Kongtorp R T,
Kjerstad A,
Taksdal T,
Guttvik A,
Falk K
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of fish diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1365-2761
pISSN - 0140-7775
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2761.2004.00549.x
Subject(s) - salmo , outbreak , biology , inflammation , myocarditis , pathogenesis , etiology , muscle tissue , skeletal muscle , histopathology , disease , peripheral blood mononuclear cell , pathology , physiology , fish <actinopterygii> , anatomy , immunology , medicine , virology , fishery , biochemistry , in vitro
Heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) is a disease syndrome of unknown aetiology first observed in farmed Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar , in 1999. In the present study we have demonstrated for the first time that HSMI is an infectious disease. It was induced in Atlantic salmon post‐smolts after injection with tissue homogenate from farmed Atlantic salmon previously diagnosed with HSMI. The lesions were also induced in cohabitating salmon given a corresponding injection without tissue homogenate. Six weeks post‐challenge the fish that had been injected with tissue homogenate developed a serious epicarditis and myocarditis with mononuclear cell infiltrations in compact and spongy layers of the heart. Similar lesions were found in cohabitants after 10 weeks. The lesions were consistent with samples from field outbreaks of HSMI. No lesions were found in control fish. A viral aetiology is strongly suggested, as no difference in disease induction between an inoculum containing antibiotics and a non‐treated inoculum was found. Further investigations are required in order to make conclusions regarding the cause and pathogenesis of HSMI.