Ranaviruses

General information

Ranavirus is a enveloped double-stranded DNA virus and belong to the family Iridoviridae. They are found worldwide and have a very wide host range infecting different animal species and even classes. Transmission is by direct contact, environmental contamination or cannibalism (or eating infected animals).

In amphibians, ranaviruses are increasingly detected and can in these trigger systemic disease and mass death. Clinically, distinctions are made between a haemorrhagic form and a skin form.

In reptiles, ranavirus occur especially in turtles, where they are associated with stomatitis, rhinitis, pneumonia and liver disease. In lizards, ranavirus seem to have a role in skin lesions, stomatitis, granulomatous changes and mass deaths. The clinical symptoms of snakes are reported as stomatitis, granulomatous changes and liver inflammation.

Ranavirus is also found in fish. In fish, the infection can extend from clinically inapparent to systemic disease with mass mortality.