Two-year surveillance of tilapia lake virus (TiLV) reveals its wide circulation in tilapia farms and hatcheries from multiple districts of Bangladesh

Tilapia lake virus (TiLV) is an emerging pathogen in aquaculture, reportedly affecting farmed tilapia in 16 countries across multiple continents. Following an early warning in 2017 that TiLV might be widespread, we executed a surveillance programme on tilapia grow-out farms and hatcheries from 10 districts of Bangladesh in 2017 and 2019. Among farms experiencing unusual mortality, eight out of 11 farms tested positive for TiLV in 2017, and two out of seven tested positive in 2019. Investigation of asymptomatic broodstock collected from 16 tilapia hatcheries revealed that six hatcheries tested positive for TiLV. Representative samples subjected to histopathology confirmed pathognomonic lesions of syncytial hepatitis. We recovered three complete genomes of TiLV from infected fish, one from 2017 and two from 2019. Phylogenetic analyses based on both the concatenated coding sequences of 10 segments and only segment 1 consistently revealed that Bangladeshi TiLV isolates formed a unique cluster within Thai clade, suggesting a close genetic relation. In summary, this study revealed the circulation of TiLV in 10 farms and six hatcheries located in eight districts of Bangladesh. We recommend continuing TiLV-targeted surveillance efforts to identify contaminated sources to minimize the countrywide spread and severity of TiLV infection.     

Blood and liver biopsy for the non‐destructive screening of tilapia lake virus

Detection of tilapia lake virus (TiLV) in tilapines is mainly from visceral organs of killed fish. However, lethal sampling might not be viable to broodstock and economically important ornamental cichlids. To contribute towards screening of the virus in asymptomatic infected fish, a subclinically infected population of Nile tilapia adults obtained from a local farm was preliminarily tested to compare different non‐lethal sampling methods, for example liver biopsy, gill biopsy, fin clip, mucus, faeces and blood for detection of TiLV. Only liver and blood samples gave positive results by PCR. Since blood sampling is relatively simpler, it was further used for five naturally co‐cultured juvenile fish species from above‐mentioned farm including 40 red tilapia broodstock and 20 Nile tilapia adults from two other different farms. The results showed that from the tested fish, 4 of 5 Nile tilapia, 2 of 5 hybrid red tilapia and 3 of 5 giant gourami blood samples tested positive, while 38 of 40 blood samples of red tilapia tested positive for TiLV in second‐step PCR. Sequencing representative PCR amplicons of positive samples confirmed sequence identity to TiLV. In conclusion, both blood and liver biopsy are practical non‐destructive sampling platforms for TiLV screening in cichlids with blood being more convenient, especially for tilapia broodstock.     

Tilapia Lake Virus was not detected in non-tilapine species within tilapia polyculture systems of Bangladesh

Sixteen countries, including Bangladesh, have reported the presence of tilapia lake virus (TiLV), an emerging tilapia pathogen. Fish polyculture is a common farming practice in Bangladesh. Some unusual mortalities reported in species co-cultivated with TiLV-infected tilapia led us to investigate whether any of the co-cultivated species would also test positive for TiLV and whether they were susceptible to TiLV infection under controlled laboratory experiments. Using 183 samples obtained from 15 farms in six districts across Bangladesh, we determined that 20% of the farms tested positive for TiLV in tilapia, while 15 co-cultivated fish species and seven other invertebrates (e.g. insects and crustaceans) considered potential carriers all tested negative. Of the six representative fish species experimentally infected with TiLV, only Nile tilapia showed the typical clinical signs of the disease, with 70% mortality within 12 days. By contrast, four carp species and one catfish species challenged with TiLV showed no signs of TiLV infection. Challenged tilapia were confirmed as TiLV-positive by RT-qPCR, while challenged carp and walking catfish all tested negative. Overall, our field and laboratory findings indicate that species used in polycultures are not susceptible to TiLV. Although current evidence suggests that TiLV is likely host-specific to tilapia, targeted surveillance for TiLV in other fish species in polyculture systems should continue, in order to prepare for a possible future scenario where TiLV mutates and/or adapts to new host(s).     

罗非鱼湖病毒对吉富罗非鱼和E-11细胞的感染

为研究罗非鱼湖病毒在吉富罗非鱼体内和敏感细胞E-11中的感染特性,实验首先从人工感染罗非鱼湖病毒的吉富罗非鱼脾脏中获得罗非鱼湖病毒第4片段基因组,其cDNA全长1 250 bp,开放读码框长度为1 065 bp,编码354个氨基酸。通过进化树分析,该蛋白是罗非鱼湖病毒血凝素—酯酶融合蛋白(HEF)。随后通过在大肠杆菌大量表达和提纯GST融合HEF蛋白,免疫新西兰大白兔,制备了兔抗TiLV-HEF多克隆抗体。ELISA结果显示获得的抗血清效价高于1∶51 200,并且获得的抗体可以特异性识别病毒的TiLV-HEF蛋白。人工感染实验结果显示,TiLV的感染造成鱼体表面溃疡、全身性出血以及眼晶状体混浊等症状。H.E染色结果显示,肝脏形成合胞体,脾脏中含铁血黄素增加和部分细胞空泡变性。头肾出现淋巴细胞坏死,体肾蛋白质沉淀和肾小球坏死等病理症状。Western blot和免疫组织化学结果显示该病毒在所有组织中均有分布,其中脾脏、头肾和鳃中的病毒丰度高于肝脏、体肾和脑组织。通过细胞间接免疫荧光实验,发现TiLV感染E-11细胞后,HEF蛋白在细胞质中。TiLV可以通过感染吉富罗非鱼幼鱼的肝脏、脾脏、头肾、体肾、鳃和脑等组织而引起疾病。     

Assessing the population transmission dynamics of tilapia lake virus in farmed tilapia

A novel virus, tilapia lake virus (TiLV), has been identified as a key pathogen responsible for disease outbreak and mass mortality of farmed tilapia. We used a deterministic susceptible‐infectious‐mortality (SIM) model to derive key disease information appraised with published TiLV‐induced cumulative mortality data. The relationship between tilapia mortality and TiLV exposure dosages was described by the Hill model. Furthermore, a disease control model was proposed to determine the status of controlled TiLV infection using a parsimonious control reproduction number (R_C)‐control line criterion. Results showed that the key disease determinants of transmission rate and basic reproduction number (R₀) could be derived. The median R₀ estimate was 2.59 in a cohabitation setting with 2.6 × 10⁵ TCID50 fish^?1 TiLV. The present R_C‐control model can be employed to determine whether TiLV containment is feasible in an outbreak farm by quantifying the current level of transmission. The SIM model can then be applied to predict what additional control is required to manage R_C < 1. We offer valuable tools for aquaculture engineers and public health scientists the mechanistic‐based assessment that allows a more rigorous evaluation of different control strategies to reduce waterborne diseases in aquaculture farming systems.