Chronic glomerulonephritis in returning fall chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (Walbaum), from the Rogue River, Oregon

Epizootic mortalities of returning adult Rogue River fall chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (Walbaum), were first observed in 1978. These mortalities reached approximately 76% in 1979 and declined to 30--50% in 1980 and less than 10% in 1981 and 1982. Histopathological examination of kidneys from moribund returns in 1981 and 1982 showed a diffuse chronic glomerulonephritis (GN) in 83% and 30% of the fish examined, respectively. In most cases glomerular damage was severe enough to cause morbidity from osmoregulatory failure. The lesion was markedly similar to immune complex-mediated glomerular disease in higher vertebrates, but tissues for further ultrastructural examination and diagnosis were not processed. Giemsa-stained sections also revealed unidentified sporozoan-like vegetative stages encysted within the extracellular mesangial matrix of glomeruli in both GN and normal kidneys. Although probably incidental to the glomerular lesion, the causal relationship of the organism to GN remains unknown until further investigation. Glomeruli of outmigrating Rogue River fall chinook salmon smolts collected in 1983 were normal and free of the organism.