Dissemination of spring viraemia of carp (SVC) in Serbia during the period 1992-2002

An acute contagious viral disease caused by Rhabdovirus carpio, spring viraemia of carp, was described for the first time by Fijan in 1972. Carp is the most important susceptible species in all age categories, although other species of cyprinid fish also contract the disease. As the name suggest, the disease typically appears in spring, when the water temperature increases. The disease is often complicated by the secondary appearance of bacterial and parasitic infections. The clinical symptoms include and presume gathering of infected fish near the sides of the pond, uncoordinated swimming, darkening of body colour, pale gills, petechial bleeding (of the skin, eyes, gills, and fin bases), exophthalmus, and the appearance of pseudofecal expulsions from the infected anus. Pathoanatomical examination sometimes reveals only oedematous organ enlargement and intestinal inflammation. A varying degree of haemorrhaging is present in the bladder, internal organs, and fluid-containing cavities. Diagnosis is based on isolation and identification of the virus and ELISA in the laboratory. More than 1664 samples were analysed in the course of the 10-year investigation (from 1992-2002) from different carp hatchery localities in the Republic of Serbia. Rhabdovirus carpio was isolated and identified at more than a third of the tested fish hatcheries (31,57%) infected with the spring viraemia virus. Although the disease was known earlier, it now represents an urgent problem in many European countries, and has been causing great damage in intensive and semi-intensive carp production in our country during the last few years. Therefore, special attention has been paid to it.