Infectious salmon anemia virus spread from Norway to Chile

The Chilean salmon farming industry has been severely affected by disease caused by infectious salmon anemia virus. Salmon eggs shipped from Norway to Chile in 2007 are the cause of the outbreak (New York Times):

A virus that has killed millions of salmon in Chile and ravaged the fish farming industry there was probably brought over from Norway, a major salmon producer has acknowledged.

Infection salmon anemia virus is a member of the orthomyxovirus family, which also includes influenza virus. The virus causes disease in Atlantic salmon and has caused economic losses on fish farms in Canada, Norway, Scotland and Chile. We discussed the virus on This Week in Virology #41: Fish flu.

2 thoughts on “Infectious salmon anemia virus spread from Norway to Chile”

  1. I am interested in hearing your discussion about Infectious  Salmon Anemia, but can’t seem to get into the link you posted. I live on the west coast of BC Canada where many people suspect this virus may already be. We also have very serious sea lice problems caused by the salmon farms and sea lice can help spread the disease. Studies have shown that ISA is transferable among various genus and species of salmon, and our wild salmon stocks are in serious decline since the advent of the fish farms.  However, our government seems to be in bed, or in the same pocket, with the Aquaculture companies (92% owned by Norwegians) and everything is cloaked in secrecy.

  2. Pingback: Salmon Anemia « Advanced Environmental Science

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