ABSTRACT
Pike fry rhabdovirus disease (PFRD) is an acute, highly contagious disease, commonly called "head disease" in cultured fry and "red disease" in cultured fingerling pike as described by R. Bootsma in 1971 and P. de Kinkelin et al. in 1973. Two forms of PFRD are known to occur, one of which is commonly known as head disease and affects swimming fry. The second form of the disease occurs in larger fish where infected pike show severe hemorrhages along the lateral trunk musculature, thus the name red disease. Fry and small fingerling pike are susceptible to PFRV with up to 100% mortality resulting. In head disease, there is an accumulation of cerebral fluid in the ventricle of the mesencephalon. Petechia can be found in the brain, spinal cord, and spleen. Severe hemorrhage in the muscle is the most dramatic histopathological lesion because erythrocytes and inflammatory cells congregate between bundles of necrotic muscle.
