An international scientific team has identified and branded a new virus - Tilapia lake virus, or TiLV - which it says is behind significant die-offs in farmed tilapia that threatens the $7.5bn global tilapia industry. Tilapia provides a critical source of protein for the developing world. TiLV is unlike any virus ever known; its genome was split into ten different clusters, none of which matched any known viruses, hinting at an entire world of related viruses that could potentially taint food supplies. Ian Lipkin from Columbia University adds his voice to concerns that while diseases such as Newcastle and Ebola fill the headlines, viruses such TiLV could be even more dangerous for humans: “It’s a matter of food security. There’s no major investment in the infectious diseases of fish, and that’s an error. The losses can be substantial.” Other threats existing include reovirus discovered in Norway that is killing salmon, new strains of bird flu, the recent reappearance of Zika disease and the UK Schmallenburg virus causing stillbirths and deformities in livestock, which was identified in 2011 and is now spreading across Europe.
An international scientific team has identified and branded a new virus - Tilapia lake virus, or TiLV - which it says is behind significant die-offs in farmed tilapia that threatens the $7.5bn global tilapia industry. Tilapia provides a critical source of protein for the developing world. TiLV is unlike any virus ever known; its genome was split into ten different clusters, none of which matched any known viruses, hinting at an entire world of related viruses that could potentially taint food supplies. Ian Lipkin from Columbia University adds his voice to concerns that while diseases such as Zika and Ebola fill the headlines, viruses such TiLV could be even more dangerous for humans: “It’s a matter of food security. There’s no major investment in the infectious diseases of fish, and that’s an error. The losses can be substantial.” Other threats existing include reovirus discovered in Norway that is killing salmon, new strains of bird flu, the recent reappearance of Newcastle disease and the UK Schmallenburg virus causing stillbirths and deformities in livestock, which was identified in 2011 and is now spreading across Europe.