Queeensland Shrimp Sector Hit by Whitespot Virus
Two shrimp farms in Queensland, Australia has been severely damaged by infection of White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV), causing a state-wide panic among the shrimp sectors in Australia. This WSSV detection is the first occurrence since the last two years and it was discovered by Biosecurity Queensland officials during a routine testing in farms around Queensland.
State authorities are now ensuring that this infection is contained before it spreads to other shrimp farms because they want to avoid a repeat of the same incident in 2016. In 2016, shrimp stocks in seven shrimp farms destroyed by the WSSV, leading to a loss of almost $400 million dollars. This crippled the income of shrimp farmers and the shrimp sector.
The virus originated from a sample of wild shrimp, but authorities have not detected the location of the outbreak. However, the good news is that the shrimp farms were almost done with harvesting, so they did not experience a huge loss in shrimp stock or profit. The Queensland chief biosecurity officer also commented on the difficulty of tracing this virus due to its rapid infection speed.
Queensland biosecurity department is now ensuring all state’s shrimp farms are able to deal with the new outbreak. Authorities have also informed shrimp farmers that only wild-caught prawns should be used as bait as raw prawns can most likely introduce the virus in the environment.
Routine testing in farms is an important practice among shrimp farmers and biosecurity authorities for early detection and prevention of shrimp diseases before transmission of diseases. ShrimpCheck WSSV Rapid Test Kits from Speedy Assay able to rapidly detect WSSV virus in affected shrimps within 20 minutes. It is one of the most cost effective shrimp disease rapid test kit products available in the market. ShrimpCheck Rapid Test Kits are sensitive and early enough to detect a relatively low level infection, prior to gross anatomical evidence of disease to achieve the goals of a basic shrimp aquaculture monitoring program. This easy-to-use screening tool is a practical and self-check approach which should be made mandatory or alternative for the relevant authorities.
Besides rapid test kit for shrimp disease diagnosis, Speedy Assay also offering ShrimpCheck Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Real-time PCR kits. These kits are 100% sensitive and specific targeted virus in shrimps. The kits come with internal and external controls to ensure that the results are reliable.
To learn more about ShrimpCheck Rapid Test Kits, PCR kits, and Real-time PCR kits, please visit our company website at wwww.speedyassay.com.
References:
The Fish Site. Queensland shrimp sector hit by Whitespot virus. Accessed 18th Sep 2020