Epizootic mortality in hatchery-reared lake trout Salvelinus namaycush caused by a putative virus possibly of the herpesvirus group

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Abstract
Although transmission studies showed that an infectious agent was involved in an epizootic mortality in hatchery-reared fingerling and yearling lake trout Salvelinus namaycush, routine diagnostic examinations repeatedly failed to detect infectious or parasitic agents. Histological examination consistently showed epithelial hyperplasia inside the mouth, on the snout, and over the body. Electron microscopy revealed a putative virus associated with the hyperplastic tissue; however, the virus has yet to be isolated in cell culture. Morphologically, the virus resembled a herpesvirus, but its taxonomic grouping has yet to be firmly estalbished. In laboratory studies, the infection could be transmitted by cohabitation with diseased fish, by exposure to water from tanks holding diseased fish, and by bath challenge with filtrates (0.45 .mu.m and 0.22 .mu.m) of hyperplastic epidermal tissue. As judged from laboratory challenges and hatchery observations, the disease did not appear to affect brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis, brown trout Salmo trutta, rainbow trout Salmo gairdneri or Atlantic salmon Salmo salar.

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