Detection of Tilapia Lake Virus in Egyptian fish farms experiencing high mortalities in 2015

Detection of tilapia lake virus (TiLV) infection by PCR in farmed and wild Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) from Lake Victoria

“…Studies carried out this far show that mortalities occur at temperatures above 25°C as shown from the summer die‐offs associated with TiLV in Egypt and Israel (Fathi et al., ). TiLV has so far been reported in Nile tilapia (Egypt, Thailand) (Fathi et al., ; Nicholson et al., ; Surachetpong et al., ), red tilapia (Thailand) (Surachetpong et al., ) and the hybrid tilapia O. niloticus × O. aureus (Israel) (Bacharach et al., ), suggesting that the range of the tilapines susceptible to TiLV could be wider.…”

“…Soon after it was reported that the same virus was present in tilapia fish in the Sea of Galilee in Israel and again that this virus was causing disease and mortalities in Nile tilapia (Eyngor et al., ). It has since been associated with outbreaks in Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Israel and Thailand (Bacharach et al., ; Del‐Pozo et al., ; Fathi et al., , Kembou Tsofack et al., ; Nicholson et al., ; Surachetpong et al., ). Based on motif alignment of its segment‐1 with the PB1 segment of influenza A, B and C, the aetiological agent has been characterized as an orthomyxo‐like virus (Bacharach et al., ).…”

“…The emergence of viral diseases such as Tilapia lake virus disease (TiLVD) poses a significant threat to the expansion of Nile tilapia production, which has tremendously increased to become one of the leading cultured fish species in the world in the last decade. Furthermore, the rapid rate at which the disease is being reported to cause outbreaks in different continents across the world (Fathi et al., ; Nicholson et al., ; Surachetpong et al., ) calls for the development of rapid diagnostic tools for prompt virus identification to pave way for the design of timely disease control strategies. Thus far, diagnosis of reported outbreaks has mainly been based on virus isolation, characterization, culture followed by reinfection in susceptible fish to demonstrate the characteristic syncytial hepatitis and other pathological lesions in susceptible fish (Del‐Pozo et al., ; Tattiyapong, Dachavichitlead, & Surachetpong, ; Tsofack et al., ).…”

Virucidal effects of common disinfectants against tilapia lake virus

“…Tilapia is currently the second most frequently farmed fish worldwide, in part because of its fast growth rate and tolerance to changes in environmental conditions, as well as the fact that it is an inexpensive source of protein and maintains stable market prices (FAO, ; Rakocy, ). However, recent outbreaks of a new tilapinevirus named tilapia lake virus (TiLV), which is associated with high mortality rates, have had a significant impact on tilapia aquaculture in many countries (Amal et al, ; Bacharach et al, ; Eyngor et al, ; Kembou Tsofack et al, ; Nicholson et al, ; Surachetpong et al, ). TiLV, which is the same virus that caused syncytial hepatitis of tilapia (SHT), was first reported in Lake Galilee in Israel (Eyngor et al, ) and during an investigation of the aetiology of mass juvenile tilapia mortality in Ecuador (Ferguson et al, ).…”

Minimal risk of tilapia lake virus transmission via frozen tilapia fillets

“…Tilapia lake virus (TiLV) was first identified in wild and farm‐raised tilapia showing clinical signs of skin discoloration, ocular alterations and lethargy in Israel (Eyngor et al., ). Subsequently, TiLV was found in many countries including Ecuador (Bacharach et al., ), Colombia (Kembou Tsofack et al., ), Egypt (Fathi et al., ; Nicholson et al., ), Thailand (Dong et al., ; Surachetpong et al., ), India (Behera et al., ), Indonesia (Koesharyani, Gardenia, Widowati, Khumaira, & Rustianti, ), Uganda and Tanzania (Mugimba et al., ), and Malaysia (Amal et al., ). In clinically infected fish, TiLV has been detected in several organs including liver, spleen, anterior kidney, gills, heart as well as muscle (Dong et al., ; Tattiyapong, Dachavichitlead, & Surachetpong, ; Tattiyapong, Sirikanchana, & Surachetpong, ).…”