Project number: 2009-032
Project Status:
Completed
Budget expenditure: $401,292.00
Principal Investigator: Mark S. Crane
Organisation: CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory
Project start/end date: 7 Feb 2010 - 29 Oct 2012
Contact:
FRDC

Need

At the National Abalone Health Workplan Priority Setting Workshop held on 18 June 2008 in Melbourne, attended by representatives from DPI Victoria, SARDI, FRDC, VADA, TAC, EZAIA), AAGA, ACA, CSIRO, DPIW Tasmania, RecFish, DAFF and NSW DPI, it was agreed that to address the main epidemiological questions research should be focussed on 4 areas:
1) Development of diagnostics techniques with the highest priorities being:
- Technique to isolate and concentrate the virus from abalone tissues (addressed in FRDC Project 2007/006)
- A rapid and specific diagnostic test-development of a validated PCR-test for the AVG virus (addressed in FRDC Project 2007/006)
- Secondary diagnostic test (ISH development addressed in FRDC Project 2007/006)
- Validation of diagnostic tests (partly addressed in proposed extension of FRDC Project 2007/006 (PCR) and this project (ISH validation))
- Rollout of diagnostic tests across the States (addressed in proposed extension of FRDC Project 2007/006)
- Distribution of infective dose in tissues (to be addressed by this proposal)
2) Disease aetiology and transmission with the highest priorities being:
- Other bio-vectors and abiotic factors (to be addressed by this proposal)
- Determination of the susceptibility of remnant populations following exposure to AVG (to be addressed by this proposal)
3) Virus inactivation with the highest priorities being:
- Determine the viability of the AVG virus, including disinfection efficacy; efficacy of treatments (to be addressed by this proposal)
- Survival of the virus in seawater (to be addressed by this proposal)
- Survival of the virus on fomites (to be addressed by this proposal)
4) Disease surveillance and modelling with the highest priorities being:
- National survey of stocks to determine current distribution of the virus, including latency, and resistance status of stocks (partly addressed by this proposal)
- Determine the mode(s) of spread of the AVG (not addressed)

Objectives

1. Validate the developed in situ hybridisation diagnostic test including roll out to other States
2. Develop a quantitative assay (qPCR) for determining infectious dose for this virus
3. Determine the sensitivity of the virus to physico-chemical conditions including its stability in water/on fomites and its sensitivity to inactivation agents
4. Determine the role of mucus in viral transmission
5. Determine whether a latent stage exists in AVG
6. Determine the susceptibility of remnant populations of abalone previously exposed to AVG and known unexposed wild populations in South Australia

Related research

Industry
Industry
Industry
PROJECT NUMBER • 2021-076
PROJECT STATUS:
COMPLETED

Abalone Viral Ganglioneuritis (AVG) R&D Needs Workshop

1. Conduct an analysis of past research on AVG, create a plain English summary and identify knowledge and research gaps that can be evaluated nationally by key stakeholders
ORGANISATION:
Abalone Council Victoria Inc (ACVI)