Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis Virus: Biology, Pathogenesis, and Diagnostic Methods

Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) is the etiological agent of an acute contagious systemic disease of several species of freshwater and marine fish, molluscs, and crustacean. IPNV is the widespread of the piscine viruses. IPNV belongs to the genus Aquabirnavirus within the family Birnaviridae. The family contains three genera: genus Aquabirnavirus (type species, IPNV and yellowtail ascites virus) of fish, genus Avibirnavirus (type species, infectiousbursal disease virus, IBDV) of birds, and genus Entomobirnavirus (type species, Drosophila X virus, DXV) of insects. Several diagnostic methods for IPNV have been reported, including the fluorescent antibody technique, the immunostaphylococcus- protein A test (ISPA), the coagglutination test, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), immunoblots and Western blots, and immunoperoxidase phosphatase cell staining (IP). More recently, molecular probes for the detection of nucleic acids using the polymerase chain reaction have been developed and applied for the diagnosis of fish viruses. Techniques involving detection and characterization of the viral genome or polypeptides are also considered these include DNA-based techniques, mainly nucleic acid hybridization, and the polymerase chain reaction.