MÉRIDA, Yucatan – Specialists from the Merida Unit of the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (CINVESTAV) revealed that recent studies have shown that two species of wild shrimp from the northern coast of the Peninsula, including a port in Yucatan, are infected by a virus that spread as a result of poor management of the crustacean farms that were established in the state.
The microorganism generates a chronic degenerative infection that causes “dwarfism” in these crustaceans, causing an economic loss to the producers, without affecting human health when consumed.
The finding of the infection of wild shrimp by infectious hematopoietic infection (Ihhnv) in a port of Yucatan (whose name was not disclosed), has several interpretations.
One of them points to the probability that the virus was disseminated by shrimp farm waste, but it is also considered that it became enzootic, that is, it is already part of the fauna and is found in marine currents, from where it has spread among the fauna, first in the wild shrimp area where they cohabit with the farmed shrimp.
“The main risk factor is the presence of shrimp farms and it could be inferred that the spread of the virus is due to poor management, but also because of the work involved in the activity, because at some point they have to discard the water they consume,” he said.
TYT Newsroom
