ANTIGENIC ANALYSIS OF NORWEGIAN AQUATIC BIRNAVIRUS ISOLATES USING MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODIES - WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO FISH SPECIES, AGE AND HEALTH-STATUS

A panel of 11 monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) was used in an immunodot as say to investigate the antigenic relationships of a representative sel ection of aquatic birnaviruses isolated in Norway from different speci es of both carrier and diseased fish. All the 81 isolates shared a ser ogroup A-specific epitope, and 67 of them had a reaction pattern ident ical to the Sp-type strain. Of the other 14 isolates, nine resembled t he Sp-type strain, two resembled both the Sp- and He-type strains, two were closest to the Ab-type strain and one resembled the Te-type stra in. Sp-related strains were predominant from all nine host groups, inc luding from both Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., with infectious panc reatic necrosis (IPN) and healthy Atlantic salmon. The N1 strain react ed identically to the Sp-type strain.