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Thank you Ray. That helps a lot. Do you know (or have an opinion about) whether an infected fish, which has not been through the 72-78F window, can pass the virus to a naive fish?
In light of the information above, the Japanese certification program sounds pretty superficial. I do not mean this to be derogatory and am sure they are doing the best they can with the tools they have available. However, if a PCR test is only of use during an active outbreak (clinically symptomatic koi), then routine testing is sort of like looking for a needle in a haystack. Right? It seems like you are more likely to discover a problem when the fish bioassey themselves (start dying).
I am assuming that the two-step PCR is not yet available and we are talking about single-step PCR here. Is that correct? Any word on when/if a two-step PCR will be available?
I think it generally costs about $25 to run each sample in PCR testing. Does anyone know who pays for the testing in Japan - the breeder or the government? Does the testing have to be done in the 72-78F window in order to get the certificate? Obviously, they do not test every fish. What is the sampling protocol?
Lots of questions. Sometimes I cannot adequately suppress Chicken Little.
-steve hopkins
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