Study of viral diseases in some freshwater fish in the Republic of Kosovo

This research was carried out to study the occurrence of viruses causing diseases in fish, namely Viral Haemorrhagic Septicaemia (VHS), Infectious Haematopoietic Necrosis (IHN), Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis (IPN) in wild brown trout and Spring Vireaemia of Carp (SVC) in carp and silver crucian carp in Kosovo. Laboratory analyses were performed at the animal health service laboratory in Munich in Germany using the biomolecular method of RT-PCR and nested-PCR. Sampling sites included one carp farm, one lake, one river for common carp, as well as natural habitats from five rivers populated with brown trout in Kosovo. In the period from 2006 to 2008, 255 fish organs and whole fish (fry) were collected and pooled (five fish per pool) in 51 pools. The results of the laboratory analysis from the research showed that 25% (8 of 32) of brown trout sampled were IHNV positive in pools originating from three rivers and 3.1% (1 of 32) were IPNV positive from one river. Pools of cyprinids were 15.7% (3 of 19) SVCV positive originating from one carp farm. These results are indicative of a significant distribution of IHNV in brown trout, the presence of IPNV in brown trout and SVCV in cyprinids.