Kenya put on high alert as FAO announces outbreak of deadly tilapia virus
Kelvin Waigwa carries home tilapia after fishing at Samaki dam at Kamatongu in Nyeri on September 25, 2015. Countries importing tilapias including Kenya have been put on high alert following a highly contagious disease. FILE PHOTO | NMG
The deadly fish disease has been confirmed in five countries: Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Israel and Thailand.
Outbreaks in Thailand have triggered the deaths of up to 90 per cent of stocks.
Infected fish often show loss of appetite, slow movements, dermal lesions and ulcers, ocular abnormalities, and opacity of lens.
The highly contagious disease is spreading among farmed and wild fish species.
Countries importing tilapias including Kenya have been put on high alert following a highly contagious disease spreading among the farmed and wild fish species.
The deadly fish disease known as Tilapia Lake Virus (TiLV), has been confirmed in five countries on three continents, posing a great threat to global food security and nutrition.
The countries are: Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Israel and Thailand.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), said that though not a human health risk, TiLV can ruin infected tilapia populations, the world's most important fish for human consumption.
“The outbreak should be treated with concern and countries importing tilapias should take appropriate risk-management measures - intensifying diagnostics testing, enforcing health certificates, deploying quarantine measures and developing contingency plans,” read an alert by FAO’s Global Information and Early Warnings System (FAO-GIEWS).
The alert said that tilapia producing countries need to be vigilant, and should follow aquatic animal-health code protocols of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) when trading tilapia.
Surveillance programme
They should initiate an active surveillance programme to determine the presence or absence of TiLV, the geographic extent of the infection and identify risk factors that may help contain it.
The disease shows highly variable mortality, with outbreaks in Thailand triggering the deaths of up to 90 per cent of stocks.
Infected fish often show loss of appetite, slow movements, dermal lesions and ulcers, ocular abnormalities, and opacity of lens.
Official data shows that Kenya’s appetite for Chinese fish imports grew 60.2 per cent to Sh1.02 billion in 2015 compared to Sh624.1 million a year earlier, due to a combination of local supply shortfalls and the surge in demand.
During the same year, world tilapia production, from both aquaculture and capture, amounted to 6.4 million tonnes, with an estimated value of $9.8 billion, with worldwide trade value of $1.8 billion.
Most important species
Tilapias are the second most important aquaculture species in volume terms providing food, jobs and domestic and export earnings for millions of people, including many smallholders.
Their affordable price, omnivorous diet, tolerance to high-density farming methods and usually strong resistance to disease makes them an important protein source, especially in developing countries and for poorer consumers, according to FAO.
It is not currently known whether the disease can be transmitted via frozen tilapia products, but “it is likely that TiLV may have a wider distribution than is known today and its threat to tilapia farming at the global level is significant,” said FAO-GIEWS in its alert.
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