The status of ISA in Chile
Through the private sponsorship of Intervet, Roche, Agrovet, Aquafarma, Mevea and others, the local laboratory service provider Biovac Ltda. was able to host a seminar with the purpose of bringing together the key specialists who have played and important role in deciphering Chile’s ISA virus and the status of the effectiveness of the bio-security measures in use to prevent its further spread. Dr. Marcos Godoy of Biovac S.A., one of the researchers who determined the complete gene sequence of the local ISA virus, commented that the ISA virus present in Chile comes from a European genotype, but the particularity of the Chilean genome is its ease and flexibility for mutation. Godoy’s counterpart in the discovery of the genome sequence is Dr. Fred Kibenge of the University of Prince Edward Island in Canada. Kibenge adds that the virus was present in Chile for at least several months prior to any sign of disease outbreak last year, and its mutation capability is most likely what caused the chain reaction of the outbreaks of the disease. According to the seminars key speakers, they were in agreement that the bio-security measures that Chile has implemented, in addition to the internal bio-security control measures of companies such as Marine Harvest, have shown positive results in the few months of implementation in reducing the presence of the disease in highly concentrated areas. Since determining the complete genome of the virus (a breakthrough recently announced last week), there is much more to learn about how the virus operates, and the possibility of vertical transmission (from broodfish to egg) versus horizontal transmission (from cage to cage) must be considered when implementing bio-security measures.
