Polymerase chain reaction detection of Taura Syndrome Virus and infectious hypodermal and haematopoietic necrosis virus in frozen commodity tails of Penaeus vannamei Boone

The prawn viruses White Spot Syndrome Virus and yellow head virus have been detected in frozen commodity prawns. However, no studies on the occurrence of two other Office International des Epizooties-listed viruses, Taura Syndrome Virus (TSV) or infectious hypodermal and haematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV), have been published. Therefore, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) study on whether these two viruses could be found in frozen commodity prawns imported into Australia was undertaken. Amplicons indicative of TSV were found in 6/10 prawns collected at a retail outlet in Townsville and 10/10 prawns from Coff's Harbour using two different reverse transcriptase PCR protocols. Nucleotide sequences from the amplicons were between 97% and 99% similar to various TSV isolates from Asia. Amplicons indicative of the Philippine/American lineage of IHHNV were found in 5/5 and 5/6 prawns collected from Townsville and Coff's Harbour respectively. Clearly, frozen commodity Penaeus vannamei Boone from China can carry TSV and IHHNV with nucleic acid intact enough to be detected using PCR.