WHITE SPOT DISEASE

Overview and Facts

White Spot Syndrome Virus is caused by the only genus Whispovirus in the family of Nimaviridae viruses. It is a type of viral infection affecting many shrimp farms. This disease is highly contagious and kills many shrimps in just days.

It is a rod-shaped and double-strand DNA virus.
It is generally called The White Spot Disease because of its appearance on shrimp. White spots are covering them.
This disease conquers all countries that have healthy shrimp farms all over the world.
The transmission of this virus is in the waters, quickly affecting every shrimp on a farm.
The White Spot Syndrome Virus infects a tremendously wide range of crustaceans.

The transmission of the White Spot Syndrome Virus is mainly by oral ingestion and from infected mother prawns, which then transmits to shrimp hatcheries.

This virus is mostly seen in most Asian countries and their coastal waters.

Its History

It first started in Taiwan in 1992. It has then affected China the following year. In the same year, this epidemic hit Japan, Korea, Thailand, India, Malaysia all the same time. It then continued to affect other countries years after, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Central, and South America, and the Philippines. It was later reported as an epidemic.

During this time, food consumption on seafood was low due to the virus.

Types and Symptoms

SYMPTOMS

This white spot disease infected shrimp, but also it was discovered to affect crabs, lobsters, and crayfish as well for being on the same farm. White Spots were seen on the shell of the shrimp under a microscope, but can be seen as dots in the naked eye. A significant factor of this virus is the environmental stress pollution of each country and farm.

Diagnosis & Medications

TREATMENT

Is there a treatment?

Until now, there is still no cure for this virus that affects shrimps. Multiple studies are made from The White Spot Syndrome Virus, and no cure has been yet to be discovered.

However, to prevent this white spot disease from widely spreading, disinfectants are being used to avoid an outbreak.

It is essential to separate those infected ones from the ones that aren’t yet. Preventing them from getting the virus and controlling the outbreak is critical to stop the disease.

Most notably, mother prawns should be controlled and look after. They usually carry the virus being transmitted to the other prawns.

Ensure that shrimp farms are in a low-temperature area, and the water temperature is over 29 °C is found to have excellent resistance over the White Spot Syndrome Virus.

They say that prevention is better than cure; in this case, it is because there is no cure, and the only thing we can do is to implement better precautions. Providing a clean environment for the prawns is one of the best prevention as well. This kind of virus is fast-paced. Fast to infect and fast to prevent. So we should take the right precautions and study its vaccines.