Special Chip Provides Better Picture Of Salmon Health
ScienceDaily
19 Oct 2006
How do you tell if a fish is fit and well? This is a question which has troubled farmers and biologists for years, but now scientists may have come up with the answer - using DNA chips. By studying the genes of Atlantic salmon scientists from three UK universities are developing a DNA chip to monitor the health and performance of salmon, a tool which could both save the salmon industry thousands and also help conserve dwindling wild salmon populations.
Atlantic salmon are the most important farmed fish in the UK and a disappearing species in the wild. They are particularly vulnerable to infection because of the dramatic physical and chemical changes they go through, known as smoltification, which enable them to live in both fresh and salt water. Assessing their health and performance is very difficult as conventional measures used in other animals, such as temperature, blood protein levels and general demeanour, are not relevant or are difficult to assess in fish.
Farmers and conservationists currently have to rely on the general appearance of salmon as an indicator of their health, which is far from ideal. The new DNA chip will help farmers assess the state of their stock more accurately and also enable conservationists to sample wild populations to ascertain their health and wellbeing.
APHIS Restricts Carp Imports
JAVAM News
01 Nov 2006 (Issue Date)
The Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has issued an interim rule, effective Oct. 30, 2006, to restrict importation of fish susceptible to spring viremia of carp. Spring viremia of carp affects certain finfish including goldfish, koi, bighead carp, Crucian carp, grass carp, silver carp, sheatfish, and tench. The contagious viral disease appeared in Yugoslavia in 1969, and it has spread to other countries in Europe and Asia.
The disease does not exist in U.S. farmed fish, though the European strain of SVC exists at a low prevalence in wild fish populations in the United States. In 2002, a koi farm in North Carolina experienced an outbreak of SVC. In 2004, an operation in Missouri and a hobbyist in Washington reported SVC outbreaks. Investigations linked the outbreaks to importation of fish from areas where SVC exists or might exist. The viral strain in all three outbreaks was of an Asian genotype.
The outbreaks of the foreign animal disease resulted in an emergency declaration, allowing APHIS to implement control and eradication programs. The USDA has issued similar emergency declarations in recent years for infectious salmon anemia, as well as for avian influenza and exotic Newcastle disease in poultry.
More Rabid Wildlife Found
The Northwest Observer
19 Oct 2006
The county health department is notifying citizens that even more cases of rabies have been confirmed in Guilford County. A fox in the area of Bearhollow and Westridge roads in northwest Greensboro recently tested positive for the virus, as did a fox in the vicinity of Gordon and Deep River Roads in High Point.
The two newest cases mark the 34th and 35th cases of the dangerous and deadly virus in the county this year. Each of the rabid animals came into contact with one dog.
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