Global spread and evolution of viral haemorrhagic septicaemia virus

Viral haemorrhagic septicaemia virus (VHSV) is a rhabdovirus that infects over 48 species of teleosts and is lethal in many. VHSV threatens marine and aquatic fisheries. VHSV was first discovered outside Europe in 1988 in fish from the Pacific coast of North America. In 1994, VHSV was discovered in Newfoundland. In 2003, VHSV was isolated from fish in Lake St. Clair (Michigan and Ontario). In this study, we used 46 nucleotide sequences for the glycoprotein gene from 12 studies and 150 nucleotide sequences for the nucleoprotein gene from nine studies. We combined phylogenetics and a geographic information system to visualize the transmission paths of VHSV lineages. We also reconstructed the spread of VHSV lineages through optimization of geographic data for viral isolates on phylogenetic trees. We demonstrate that VHSV was transmitted from the North Atlantic Ocean and/or Baltic Sea to the Atlantic coast of North America and Japan in independent events. From the Atlantic coast, the virus was transmitted independently to the Laurentian Great Lakes and the Pacific coast of Canada and the contiguous United States. From the Pacific Northwest, the virus was transmitted to Asia and Alaska in independent events. These results clarify the debate ongoing in the literature on the geographic spread of VHSV.