What is Largemouth Bass Virus?
It is one of more than 100 naturally occurring viruses that affect fish but not warm-blooded animals. Origin is unknown, but it is related to a virus found in frogs and other amphibians and nearly identical to a virus isolated in fish imported to the U.S. for the aquarium trade. Although the virus apparently can be carried by other fish species, to date, it has produced disease (death) only in largemouth bass. Scientists do not know how the virus is transmitted or how it is activated into a fatal disease. In addition, they know of no cure or preventative, as is commonly the case with viruses. LMBV first gained attention in 1995, when it was implicated in a fish kill on Santee-Cooper Reservoir in South Carolina. Since then, the virus has been found in impoundments throughout the South and, during 2000, was confirmed as the source of a kill in Lake George on the Indiana-Michigan border. Often, the virus has been detected in bass that show no signs of illness, which suggests that some fis
