Study of a viral-dual infection in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) by seroneutralization, Western blot and polymerase chain reaction assays

Viral-dual infections in fish are of interest to aquaculture practices but they are rarely described and studied. Several methods were applied in this work to demonstrate a case of coinfection in a reared rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) population. Inoculation in cell cultures and cross-neutralization tests were the standard procedures that made it possible to isolate and identify a birnavirus, the infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV), and suspect of a second virus. Western blotting with both polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies, and reverse transcriptional-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) demonstrate coexistence of both, IPNV and a rhabdovirus.