The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Veterinary Services’ (VS) Aquatic Animal/Aquaculture Program will request that the NAHLN Coordinating Council consider adding Spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV) to diagnostic tests handled by network laboratories.

Currently, SVCV is an APHIS program disease with Federal regulations pertaining to the importation of species susceptible to the virus. SVCV, which is also listed as a notifiable disease by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), is a pathogen that requires export health testing of susceptible species of fin fish. APHIS has worked with domestic producers of koi (Cyprinus carpio) and goldfish (Carassius auratus) to determine the prevalence of SVCV in the United States following the first outbreak in 2002 on a commercial farm. While SVCV has been found in wild species, surveillance demonstrates that SVCV is exotic to the United States in farmed species. There have been no findings of SVCV in commercially aquacultured species in the United States for over a decade.

The NAHLN is a cooperative effort between APHIS, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians. The network is comprised of laboratories that focus on different diseases and use common testing methods and data standards. Currently, two other aquatic animal pathogens are incorporated into the NAHLN: (1) Infectious salmon anemia virus (ISAV) and (2) Viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV). Thirteen laboratories have been approved to test for ISAV and VHSV.

VS’ Aquatic Animal/Aquaculture Program requests comments from stakeholders for additional aquatic animal pathogens to be added to the network by FY 2017 and beyond. VS also seeks input on prioritizating these additional pathogens. For aquatic animal pathogens to be considered the causative agent, it must be the cause of significant disease in susceptible species and have trade implications, such as export testing requirements or restrictions.

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