Infectious salmon anaemia is a notifiable and economically important disease in Atlantic salmon farming. The disease is caused by a virus that is related to influenzaviruses but does not infect mammals or birds.
In Atlantic salmon, we have demonstrated that the virus infects the cells lining the blood circulatory system, and also attaches to the red blood cells themselves. Infection with infectious salmon anaemia virus leads to serious circulatory disturbances, bleedings, and anaemia. We have also observed that a certain type of immune cells, the macrophages, "eat" red blood cells in infected salmon, and hypothesise that this may be a response to foreign virus particles attached to the cell surface.
In this project, we will map and document the binding of infectious salmon anaemia virus to Atlantic salmon red blood cells in experimentally and naturally infected fish, and explore the relevance of this interaction to disease. The ability some viruses have to attach to red blood cells has been used in classical laboratory tests for decades. Nevertheless, we have only found a handful of studies that address the relevance of this interaction for disease development in humans, other mammals, and birds. Our studies may therefore reveal novel disease mechanisms that are also relevant in other viral infections.
Publications
- Salmon Erythrocytes Sequester Active Virus Particles in Infectious Salmon Anaemia (02.02.2022)
- No Evidence of the Vertical Transmission of Non-Virulent Infectious Salmon Anaemia Virus (ISAV-HPR0) in Farmed Atlantic Salmon (03.12.2021)
Partners
- Knut Falk
- Debes Hammershaim Christiansen (Faroese Food and Veterinary Authority)
- Marit Bakke Jørgensen (NMBU)
