title: Antibody response of two populations of common carp, Cyprinus carpio L., exposed to koi herpesvirus.
abstract: Common carp, Cyprinus carpio L., exposed to koi herpesvirus (KHV) may become persistently infected and populations containing such virus-infected individuals may transmit the virus to other fish when co-habited. Detection of virus-infected fish in a population is thus critical to surveillance and control programmes for KHV. A study was therefore designed to detect anti-KHV serum antibodies, with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, in common carp following experimental exposures to KHV under varying environmental conditions. The study determined that a proportion of fish within a population experimentally exposed to KHV (at least 10-25%) develop high antibody titres (1/1600 or greater) to the virus, and this immunological response was detectable for several months (observed at the termination of the experiments at 65, 46 and 27 weeks post-exposure). Furthermore, this response was detected in one population of fish that did not succumb to a high level of mortality when maintained at water temperatures that were non-permissive for KHV. Elevating the water temperatures to permissive conditions for KHV resulted in recurrence of disease despite the presence of anti-virus antibodies, suggesting that serum antibodies alone are not protective under the conditions of our trials.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Weymouth, Dorset, UK.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: St-Hilaire
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Beevers
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Joiner
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Hedrick
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Way
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D002347:Carps / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology*; D003429:Cross Reactions; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology*; D006564:Herpesviridae / Q000502:physiology*; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000662:veterinary*; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral