I got this email from a vet by the name of Dr. Starling of Iowa on a list serve I'm on. I thought this might be of interest to some of you.
Good afternoon,
If this will suffice to be brief, this article is only new info in the
genetic mapping of the VHSv Type 4b isolated from the Great Lakes. Could be
quite useful.
>From past publications on genetic relationships, there seems to be a
disparity (branching out or away from) in the genetic tree that could easily
disqualify the Type 4b as a monster virus to our freshwater systems in the
Great Lakes. The European experience with VHSv in freshwater was
devastating. The molecular clock indicates, as does this article, that the
virus is distantly related to the European strains. Enough genetic distance
for an RNA virus exists that we probably assumed too much to declare this
Type 4b an extraordinary emergency in the freshwater system of the Great
Lakes.
The declared emergency was on target, at the time - don't discredit the
regulatory decision of that day - but has not held up to scrutiny and
reality checks since. Further details and reasons for this philosophical
and scientific stance can be found in the Contrarian Reports on the Aquatic
Livestock Alliance website, www.aquaticlivestock.org
Enjoy,
DES
David E. Starling, D.V.M.
Aqueterinary ServicesR, PC
1229 Florida Ave, #303
Ames, IA 50014 USA
Molecular characterization of the Great Lakes viral hemorrhagic
septicemia virus (VHSV) isolate from USA
Arun Ammayappan and Vikram N Vakharia
Published: 25 October 2009
Virology Journal 2009, 6:171
Excerpts:
Although JF00Ehil, KRRV9822 and Makah strains maintain close identity
with MI03GL, they are sub-typed as IVa.
Makah maintains a close identity with Japanese JF00Ehil
(99%) and KRRV9822 (98%), and North American isolates (99%).
Makah strain isolated from Coho
Salmon in 1988 from Washington, USA was grouped
under genotype IVa [31]. Rests of the North American
strains belonging to genotype IVa were isolated in different
time periods (1991-2003) [11], and Japanese strains
were isolated around year 2000.
...earlier reports and the current study suggests that the genotype IV
strains of
VHSV probably originated from North America and possible
ancestor for isolates of genotype IV might be Makah.
This suggests that MI03GL might have diverged from
Makah and evolved independently thereafter. To date,
among VHSV strains, MI03GL strain is the only member
of the genotype IVb.
Edited by az9, 15 November 2009 - 11:39 AM.
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