Corey Puzach of the La Crosse Fish Health Center sampling fish.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's La Crosse Fish Health Center has completed their annual testing of wild fish for Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS) in the Great Lakes/Big River's region.  Genotype IVb of VHS is a strain specific to freshwater fish and was first detected in the Great Lakes in 2005.  To date, over 28 different fish species in the Great Lakes have been affected, with large kills reported in populations of yellow perch, freshwater drum, muskies and round gobies. VHS IVb is an extremely virulent and highly infectious disease that requires constant monitoring in order to slow its spread. The Fish Health Center has relied on assistance from numerous federal (La Crosse and Columbia National Wildlife and Fish Conservation Offices) and state agencies (Wisconsin DNR, Ohio Division of Wildlife and Illinois DNR) for fish collections.   Because of these partnerships, over 17,209 fish have been tested since 2005.  In 2008, over 8,000 fish were tested, with most sampling in Ohio (2,571), Wisconsin (3,560) and Illinois (1,006).  Significant findings by the La Crosse Fish Health Center in 2008 include:  detection of the virus in ovarian fluids of spawning muskie from Clear Fork Reservoir in Ohio-the first isolation outside the Great Lakes' basin and the first report in ovarian fluids (a nonlethal sample) and first detection of the virus in sea lamprey-a new host record for the virus.