Characterisation of a newly isolated SVCV strain in Ukraine

Spring Viraemia of Carp Virus (SVCV) has been well documented since the 1960s. This virus infection generally results in an acute haemorrhagic syndrome with septicaemia and associated high mortality. During a fish health inspection in carp farms in the Eastern region of Ukraine, SVCV was isolated from yearlings of the common carp Cyprinus carpio. For virus isolation and characterisation, methods of cell culture, EM, PCR, and sequencing were used. Preliminary examination of infected fish revealed a range of lesions, particularly in spleen and kidney tissues. The virus grew in fish cell lines of FHM and EPC with infectious titre of 106.2–6.5 and 106.9–7.4 TCID50/ml, respectively. Investigation by electron microscopy demonstrated that ultrastructurally the isolated virus was similar to rhabdoviruses. Virions were non-enveloped with a typical bullet profile, approximately 80 to 180 nm in length and 60 to 90 nm in diameter. In addition, the nucleotide sequence of the glycoprotein gene G fragment in size of 579 base pairs was analysed. The nucleotide sequence was registered at GenBank under the accession number MH043331. The phylogenetic analysis revealed a close relationship of East Ukrainian isolates of SVCV with sequences that represent the strains from genogroup Ib.