First identification of infectious salmon anaemia virus in North America with haemorrhagic kidney syndrome

Haemorrhagic kidney syndrome (HKS), a serious disease affecting Atlantic salmon on the east coast of Canada, was determined to be caused by infectious salmon anaemia virus (ISAV) through the isolation of the pathogen on the SHK-1 (salmon head kidney) cell line and confirmation by ISAV-specific immunofluorescent antibody test (IFAT) and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). In addition, the defining histopathology of HKS could be reproduced following the injection of material that rendered challenged fish ISAV-positive by cell culture in the absence of any other detectable pathogen. Preliminary nucleotide sequence comparison does not suggest any direct epidemiological connection between the Canadian and Norwegian isolates.