Viral infections in tilapines: More than just tilapia lake virus

Abstract

© 2019 Elsevier B.V. There is an increasing number of emerging infectious agents, although not zoonotic, that affect farmed tilapines worldwide. Most recently, the emergence of a new virus, tilapia lake virus (TiLV), has diverted global attention to it while little or no research is being done on the other viruses of possible equal importance. These other viruses have reportedly been associated with relatively high mortalities (20–100%) in several cases of natural disease outbreaks or laboratory challenges. The objective of this review is to highlight viral infections of tilapines that may have been neglected by the scientific community but are also requiring systematic investigation. The viral infections in this review include infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV, Aquabirnavirus), nervous necrosis virus (VNN, Betanodavirus), tilapia larvae encephalitis virus (TLEV, Herpesvirus), and the Iridovirus infections namely Bohle iridovirus (BIV, Ranavirus) infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus (ISKNV, Megalocytivirus), Lymphocystivirus and another Iridovirus-like infection. This review summarizes current scientific knowledge on viral infections that affect tilapines and highlights diagnosis methods for disease surveillance and discusses the future visions for disease control.