Crayfish plague is an infectious disease in freshwater crayfish caused by the oomycete Aphanomyces astaci. The pathogen was introduced to Europe through the import of latently infected North American crayfish and has led to a dramatic decline in native crayfish populations due to its high mortality rates. As a result, crayfish plague is classified as a notifiable animal disease in Switzerland.
Effective prevention, monitoring, and control strategies require a diagnostic method capable of reliably detecting even low pathogen loads.
This project evaluates three different PCR-based diagnostic methods for crayfish plague. Sensitivity and specificity of these methods will be assessed using Bayesian Latent Class Analysis. The ultimate goal is to establish and accredit the most reliable detection method in our diagnostic laboratory, which serves as the national reference laboratory for crayfish plague in Switzerland.
Contact: Julius Hermanns, Gary Delalay, Heike Schmidt-Posthaus
