title: Denman Island disease in Washington State, USA: distribution and prevalence in Pacific and Olympia oysters.
abstract: We sampled over 2400 wild, feral, and cultured Pacific oysters Crassostrea gigas and Olympia oysters Ostrea lurida in Washington State, USA, from 2002 to 2006 to estimate the prevalence of infection with Mikrocytos mackini, the causative agent of Denman Island disease. Both histology and qualitative PCR methods were used. Estimates of true prevalence of M. mackini infection in C. gigas, after accounting for imperfect test sensitivity, ranged from mean values of 0 to 10.0% by histology and 0 to 8.4% based on pooled PCR samples. M. mackini was not detected in any of the O. lurida samples. Results suggest a lower prevalence of the pathogen and severity of this oyster disease in Washington than that indicated in previous reports from British Columbia, Canada, potentially attributable to higher seawater temperatures in the Washington sample locations.
authors.affiliation: AquaTechnics 455 W. Bell Street, Sequim, WA 98382, USA.
authors.forename: Ralph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Elston
authors.forename: Carolyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.forename: Lori
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gustafson
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Russell
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rogers
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D010125:Ostreidae / Q000469:parasitology*; D010271:Parasites / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013045:Species Specificity; D014861:Washington