| Summary: | Infectious pancreatic necrosis (IPN) is an economically significant viral disease of salmonid fish worldwide. Infectious pancreatic necrosis is categorised as a List III disease under Annex A of EU Council Directive 91/67/EEC. List III diseases are present within the EU and up to 2004 were regulated under national control programmes within each member state. The disease was first described in freshwater trout in North America in the 1950’s (Wood et al., 1955) and has been reported in Europe since the early 1970’s (Ball et al., 1971). Initially, IPN was regarded as a serious disease affecting rainbow trout fry and fingerlings (Roberts & Pearson, 2005). However as the salmon farming industry began to expand during the 1970’s, incidence of IPN disease in salmon also increased with the result that IPN is now widespread in the salmon farming industry in both Norway and Scotland. The economic loss due to the disease is large and outbreaks may occur in Atlantic salmon juveniles in fresh-water and in post-smolts after transfer to sea-water. Historically in Ireland, isolations of the IPN virus have been rare and occasional outbreaks have occurred in both rainbow trout and Atlantic salmon facilities. The Marine Institute and its predecessor, the Fisheries Research Centre, have been testing farmed and wild fish for disease pathogens since the mid 1980’s. The first reported clinical outbreak of IPN in Atlantic salmon occurred in 2003. However in 2006 severe outbreaks in a number of freshwater salmon hatcheries occurred which were all linked to imports from a specific single source. To date, clinical outbreaks of IPN in Ireland have been associated with imports of infected ova and their subsequent movement within the country. This report reviews the prevalence of the IPN virus in the Irish salmon farming industry and also in wild fish from selected rivers. It describes the steps taken by the industry to control the disease in 2006 and aims to provide some practical solutions to reduce the prevalence of the virus in ...
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