Monitoring of TS, IMN, NHP, and DIV1 in Cultured Whiteleg Shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) in South Korea in 2020

Disease monitoring in aquatic animals is important to minimize disease transmission and provide important information for effective quarantine measures. In this study, Taura syndrome (TS), infectious myonecrosis (IMN), necrotizing hepatopancreatitis (NHP), and decapod iridescent virus 1 (DIV1) were monitored in 2,592 whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) collected from 108 shrimp farms in Korea from September to October 2020. A disease detection and monitoring experiment was conducted according to the WOAH"s Manual of Diagnosis for Aquatic Animal. None of the four diseases were detected in whiteleg shrimp samples tested in this study. Although TS and IMN had occurred in Korea in the past, they have not become endemic. IMN occurred in 2015 and the possibility of it being introduced into Korea through lugworm (Arenicola marina) from China was reported in a previous study. NHP and DIV1 are shrimp diseases that have not been reported in Korea, but are known to be highly pathogenic to whiteleg shrimp. If these diseases are introduced into the country, they can cause serious economic damage to the shrimp farming industry. Therefore, quarantining imported aquatic products and disease control systems are important in Korean shrimp farms and should be increased. Our monitoring results showed that TS, IMN, NHP, and DIV1 were absent in Korean whiteleg shrimp farms and can provide important basic data to prove the freedom of these four diseases in the future.