Abstract
A rhabdovirus was isolated in cell culture inoculated with tissue material from diseased grayling, T hymallus thymallus (L.), originating from a fish farm affected by a mortality episode in P oland. Diagnostics tests showed that the virus was not related to novirhabdoviruses known in E urope, nor to vesiculovirus‐like species, except p erch rhabdovirus ( PR hV) with which it shared moderate serological relations. However, RT ‐ PCR with PR hV probes gave negative results. To identify the virus, a random‐priming sequence‐independent single primer amplification was adopted. Surprisingly, two of the obtained sequences exhibited a high identity (>99%) with h irame rhabdovirus ( HIRRV ), a novirhabdovirus usually found in fish in marine A siatic countries, for instance J apan, C hina and K orea. The full‐length sequence of the phosphoprotein gene (P) demonstrated a higher identity of the present isolate with HIRRV from C hina compared with the K orean isolate. An identical viral sequence was also found in brown trout, S almo trutta trutta L., affected by mortalities in a second farm in the same region, after a likely contamination from the grayling farm. To our knowledge, this is the first report of HIRRV in E urope, and in two hosts from fresh water that have not been described before as susceptible species.