Presence of eel viruses in eel species from various geographic regions

Abstract

EVEX (Eel-Virus-European-X), HVA (Herpesvirus anguillae), and EVE (Eel Virus European) were detected in wild and farmed European eels (Anguilla anguilla L.) from the Netherlands, EVEX and EVE from farmed eels from Italy, and EVEX from wild eels from Morocco. EVEX was also isolated from wild New Zealand eel (A. dieffenbachi). Elvers (A.anguilla) collected from eel farms in the Netherlands were mainly infected with HVA. An unknown picornavirus was isolated from healthy wild European eel from The Netherlands, and New Zealand eel (A.dieffenbachi) from New Zealand. European eels from Northern Ireland showed clinical signs of virus infections although no viruses were detected in these samples.