Yellowhead disease (YHD) is a

viral Viral means "relating to viruses" (small infectious agents). Viral may also refer to: Viral behavior, or virality Memetic behavior likened that of a virus, for example: * Viral marketing, the use of existing social networks to spread a marke ...

infection of

shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...

and prawn, in particular of the

giant tiger prawn ''Penaeus monodon'', commonly known as the giant tiger prawn, Asian tiger shrimp, black tiger shrimp, and other names, is a marine crustacean that is widely reared for food. Taxonomy ''Penaeus monodon'' was first described by Johan Christian ...

(''Penaeus monodon''), one of the two major species of farmed shrimp. The disease is caused by the ''Yellow head virus'' (YHV), a positive-strand RNA virus related to

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the com ...

es and arteriviruses. The disease is highly lethal and contagious, killing shrimp quickly. Outbreaks of this disease have wiped out in a matter of days the entire populations of many shrimp farms that cultivated ''P. monodon'', i.e. particularly Southeast Asian farms. In

Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...

, the disease is called . A closely related virus is the ''

Gill-associated virus ''Okavirus'' is a genus of enveloped positive-strand RNA viruses which infect crustaceans. Host organisms are mostly shrimp. It is the only genus in the family ''Roniviridae''. Viruses associated with the genus include: gill-associated virus ( ...

'' (GAV).

Clinical

The

cephalothorax The cephalothorax, also called prosoma in some groups, is a tagma of various arthropods, comprising the head and the thorax fused together, as distinct from the abdomen behind. (The terms ''prosoma'' and ''opisthosoma'' are equivalent to ''cepha ...

of infected shrimp turns yellow after a period of unusually high feeding activity ending abruptly, and the then moribund shrimps congregate near the surface of their pond before dying. YHD leads to death of the animals within two to four days.

World Organization for Animal Health The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), formerly the (OIE), is an intergovernmental organization coordinating, supporting and promoting animal disease control. Mission and status The main objective of the WOAH is to control epizoo ...

(OIE): ''Aquatic Manual'', 4th Ed., 2003
Section 4.1.3
. .

History

YHD had been reported first from Thailand in 1990, the closely related GAV has been discovered in 1995 during a yellowhead-like disease in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n shrimp farms.

References

External links

ICTV Report: ''Roniviridae''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q548495 Penaeidae Fisheries science Animal viral diseases Diseases and parasites of crustaceans Roniviridae