M. Maeda et al., Red swamp crawfish (Procambarus clarkii): An alternative experimental hostin the study of white spot syndrome virus, ACT VIROLOG, 44(6), 2000, pp. 371-374
The pathogenicity of white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) for the red swamp cra
wfish (Procambarus clarkii) was investigated after infection by intramuscul
ar (i.m.) injection and oral route. The cumulative mortality of crawfish in
jected i.m, with WSSV reached 100% in 5 days. After oral feeding WSSV-infec
ted kuruma shrimp (Penaeus japonicus) muscle tissues to the crawfish the cu
mulative mortality of this host reached 100% in 11 days. On reinfection tri
als, all the crawfish fed WSSV-infected crawfish muscle tissues died in 9 d
ays. All the shrimp injected with a filtrate of infected crawfish heart tis
sues died in 12 days with typical signs of white spot syndrome (WSS). Elect
ron microscopy clearly demonstrated that WSSV propagated in the cells of th
e crawfish midgut. This study showed that the red swamp crawfish can be use
d as alternative experimental host in the study of WSSV.