title: Emergence of fatal European genotype CyHV-3/KHV in mainland China.
abstract: Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (CyHV-3), also known as koi herpesvirus (KHV), is a highly infectious causative agent to common carp and koi worldwide. The virus is mainly consisted of European and Asian genotype isolates. To date, no European genotype CyHV-3 has been found emerging in the East and Southeast Asian regions. In late March 2011, an outbreak of CyHV-3 disease occurred in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China, resulting in the deaths of approximately 200 large-sized adult koi within four weeks. One moribund koi was sampled for CyHV-3 isolation. Thus, a CyHV-3 was isolated in KCF-1 cells and designated as KHV-GZ11. Abundant mature or immature virions in infected KCF-1 cells were observed under a transmission electron micrograph. In addition, intra-nuclear inclusion body-like structures with masses of virions were also observed. Based on the TK and ORF136H genes, the sequence analyses revealed that KHV-GZ11 is a distinct European genotype of CyHV-3. Moreover, the infectivity experiment showed that KHV-GZ11 was highly virulent to koi. In summary, we are the first to confirm the emergence of fatal European genotype CyHV-3/KHV in East and Southeast Asia. Our study will provide new insight to explore the virus origin and epidemiology, as well as its pathogenicity.
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory of Aquatic Food Safety/State Key Laboratory for Bio-control, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People's Republic of China. dongchfu@mail.sysu.edu.cn
authors.forename: Chuanfu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Xuezhu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Shaoping
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Weng
authors.forename: Shaoxia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Jianguo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002347:Carps; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D021821:Communicable Diseases, Emerging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D005838:Genotype; D006564:Herpesviridae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D014771:Virion / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity