Virologists believe that the deadly Koi Herpes Virus, KHV, may be able to affect a number of other cyprinid species.
Scientists working at the Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School in Israel claim that the virus, which is now officially known as Cyprinid Herpes Virus-3 (CyHV-3), can propagate in common carp, Koi, Silver carp and Goldfish cells, which they believe places the species at risk from the virus.
Davidovich, Dishon, Ilouze and Kotler exposed cultured cells from a number of cyprinid and non-cyprinid fishes to CyHV-3 and found that the virus was capable of propagating in two strains of the Carp, Cyprinus carpio, as well as the Goldfish, Carassius auratus, and the Silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix.
Their study, which is due to be published shortly in the journal Archives of Virology, also provides evidence to suggest that cells derived from the Fathead minnow, Pimephales promelas, and non-cyprinids such as the Channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, are resistant to the disease.
They claim that the findings show that CyHV-3 is not restricted to common carp and Koi, as previously believed, and that other cyprinids including Goldfish and Silver carp, could also act as carriers of the virus.
Last year Practical Fishkeeping reported that American scientist Paul Bowser and his co-workers had published a study detailing how they managed to get the virus to replicate well in Fathead minnow cells. The results contradict those of the Israeli study, which claims that cell lines from the species are resistant to the virus.
For more information see the paper: Davidovich M, Dishon A, Ilouze M, Kotler M (2007) - Susceptibility of cyprinid cultured cells to cyprinid herpesvirus 3. Arch Virol. 2007 May 14.