PCR test, quarantine for PHL shrimp vs viruses

Years before returning travelers were required to quarantine or get polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for Covid-19, a research center is rigorously requiring the same for the country’s shrimp to ward off viruses and other pathogens that cause billions of dollars in losses to shrimp farms worldwide. These are being done in a birthing center for tiger shrimp at a seaside town in Iloilo, a news release from the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center Aquaculture Department (Seafdec/AQD) said. After releasing their eggs, the mother shrimp, called spawners, are tested for the white spot syndrome virus (WSSV), monodon baculovirus, infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus, yellow head virus, acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease and the parasite Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei.