IDENTIFICATION OF WHITE SPOT SYNDROME DISEASE (WSSD) IN PENAEUS INDICUS BY POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION (PCR) METHOD

A high mortality of cultured shrimp Penaeus indicus was spotted in summer 2002 in Khouzestan province, southwestern Iran. White spots with a size of 0.5-2mm was one of the typical external signs of the infected shrimps. Our examination revealed that the cuticle of the shrimps could be easily separated from their epidermis, their hepatopancreas was swollen, their abdomen and intestine were empty and their body colour was reddish. Based on the symptoms, we suspected that White Spot Syndrome Disease (WSSD) might have caused the mortality. To ascertain our suspicion, we collected 90 infected specimens from the Khouzestan province and another 120 uninfected specimens from Bushehr and Hormozgan provinces in the south and Golestan province in the northeast Iran.
After fixing the samples in pure alcohol, we homogenized the samples and extracted their DNA content using phenol-chloroform methods. Using a WSSD kit, we conducted the PCR method which showed the specimens from Khouzestan province (Abadan area) were definitely infected with WSSD while results for samples from other provinces were negative.