The increased sensitivity of advanced molecular techniques greatly exceeds the sensitivities of traditional detection methods for infectious agents. This sensitivity causes difficulty in interpreting the biological significance of such detections in fish (and shellfish), especially when the agent(s) cannot be cultured in the laboratory. In the Pacific Northwest, including Canada and Alaska, molecular detections of “new” (unknown or known but discovered in a different geographic location or fish host) potentially infectious agents in fish have received extensive media attention and misinterpretation that call for resource agencies to change current fish health surveillance practices or policies to include these agents. Fish health specialists from several of these agencies and organizations (see Acknowledgments) advise that any policy changes should be made only after further investigations to avoid wasting resources to conduct surveillance for organisms that are not significant to fish health or for noninfectious genetic material that does not represent a viable agent. Molecular detection is not proof of agent viability within or on host tissues and requires further investigation regarding the agent's ability to replicate and evidence that the agent causes substantial risk of disease to exposed fish populations. This document provides examples of molecularly detected agents causing public concern that were accompanied by little or no data to provide context and assessment of biological significance, highlights important questions to be answered regarding these detections, and provides a suggested pathway of investigative criteria to determine viability and pathogenicity of such agents that are necessary for consideration of any changes to aquatic animal health practices and policies.

中文翻译：

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一个观点：有鳍鱼中新物质的分子检测——解释鱼类健康管理的生物学意义

先进分子技术提高的灵敏度大大超过了传统检测方法对传染性病原体的灵敏度。这种敏感性导致难以解释此类检测在鱼类（和贝类）中的生物学意义，特别是当无法在实验室培养试剂时。在太平洋西北部，包括加拿大和阿拉斯加，对鱼类中“新”（未知或已知但在不同地理位置或鱼类宿主中发现）潜在传染因子的分子检测已受到媒体的广泛关注和误解，要求资源机构做出改变当前鱼类健康监测实践或政策包括这些代理。来自其中几个机构和组织的鱼类健康专家（见致谢）建议，只有在进一步调查之后才能做出任何政策改变，以避免浪费资源对对鱼类健康不重要的生物或对鱼类健康不重要的非传染性遗传物质进行监测。代表一个可行的代理。分子检测不能证明病原体在宿主组织内或宿主组织上的活力，需要进一步调查病原体的复制能力和证据，证明病原体对暴露的鱼类种群造成重大疾病风险。本文件提供了引起公众关注的分子检测试剂的示例，这些试剂很少或没有数据来提供背景和生物学意义的评估，