Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza

Infectious Salmon Anemia

Partnerships with States and Industry

Spring Viremia of Carp

Pseudorabies

National Animal Health Laboratory Network

Incident Command System: An Interagency Approach to Emergency Response

CEAH Emergency Management Reporting System (EMRS)

Spring Viremia of Carp

The first confirmed report of spring viremia of carp (SVC) in the United States was identified in a koi hatchery with ponds in North Carolina and Virginia in July 2001.

SVC is caused by a highly contagious virus that can cause a significant number of deaths in common carp—those raised for food and found in the wild—and in ornamental varieties such as koi.

With SVC, fish demonstrate clinical signs primarily in the spring, making diagnosis during other times difficult. SVC can be transmitted by many vectors including feces from infected fish, infected water and parasites (such as leeches), and birds. The disease may be transmitted from parent to offspring as well.

SVC is an OIE List B disease. (List B diseases are transmissible diseases considered to be of socio-economic and/or public health importance within countries and that are significant in the international trade of animals and animal products; List B diseases, while serious, are considered to have less economic and disease impact than List A diseases.)

In response to the SVC discovered in North Carolina and Virginia, all fish in the four affected ponds were depopulated and those ponds were drained. The 200-pond facility was placed under quarantine and a surveillance program is underway. Some 2,000 samples at the SVC-infected farm sites were taken for diagnostic testing.

North Carolina and Virginia have both taken steps to prevent further spread of the disease; however, they lack sufficient funding and personnel to effectively control the disease, which poses a potentially serious threat to animal health and the U.S. economy. They have requested that VS assist with epidemiology, surveillance, and indemnification programs to control the disease. Successful control requires extensive surveillance of both high and low risk sites. VS is seeking a declaration of emergency for SVC.

There are no confirmed reports of SVC on fish farms elsewhere in the United States. However, SVC was confirmed as the cause of a large (10 tons) wild carp die-off in a natural lake in Wisconsin and in natural watersheds adjacent to the fish hatchery. There is no apparent link to the North Carolina or Virginia outbreak. VS does not have authority to depopulate non-farm-raised fish.