Sardinovirus pilchardi

Sardinovirus is a genus of viruses that infect fish, belonging to the viral family Orthomyxoviridae. It is the same family that also includes Influenza A Virus and Influenza B Virus, which cause influenza in humans and animals. Within the genus Sardinovirus there lives (at the moment) one species Sardinovirus pilchardi, which was previously called Pilchard Orthomyxovirus (POMV).

It is a negative-sense single-stranded segmented RNA genome (usually 8 segments, similar to influenza viruses).

The virus that later became known as Sardinovirus pilchardi was first isolated in 1998 from wild pilchard fish (Sardinops sagax, also called the blue pilchard)[1]. Researchers were examining wild fish samples collected off the coast of South Australia. During lab testing, they found an unknown virus in the fish tissues. At first it was simply described as an "orthomyxo-like virus" because it looked similar to viruses in the Orthomyxoviridae family under the microscope.

Sardinovirus pilchardi is also a primary pathogen of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), causing a systemic disease known as Salmon Orthomyxoviral Necrosis (SON) in both fresh- and marine-water environments, but natural outbreaks have only been detected in sea-pens[2].

The hosts of the Sardinovirus are (mainly) marine fish, especially sardines and related species. This novel virus is not known to infect humans (yet).

[1] Samsing et al: Development of a new real-time PCR for the detection of pilchard orthomyxovirus (POMV) in apparently healthy fish in Aquaculture – 2022
[2] Godwin et al: Pilchard orthomyxovirus (POMV). II. Causative agent of salmon orthomyxoviral necrosis, a new disease of farmed Atlantic salmon Salmo salar in Diseases of Aquatic Organisms - 2020