European perch (Perca fluviatilis) are increasingly farmed as a human food source. Viral infections of European perch remain largely unexplored, thereby putting farm populations at incalculable risk for devastating fish epizootics and presenting a potential hazard to consumers. To address these concerns, we applied metatranscriptomics to identify disease-associated viruses in European perch farmed in Switzerland. Unexpectedly, in clinically diseased fish we detected novel freshwater fish filoviruses, a novel freshwater fish hantavirus, and a previously unknown rhabdovirus. Hantavirus titers were high, and we demonstrated virus in macrophages and gill endothelial cells by using in situ hybridization. Rhabdovirus titers in organ samples were low, but virus could be isolated on cell culture. Our data add to the hypothesis that filoviruses, hantaviruses, and rhabdoviruses are globally distributed common fish commensals, pathogens, or both. Our findings shed new light on negative-sense RNA virus diversity and evolution.

欧洲鲈鱼 ( Perca fluviatilis) 越来越多地被养殖为人类的食物来源。欧洲鲈鱼的病毒感染在很大程度上仍未得到探索，从而使养殖场人口面临无法估量的鱼类流行病破坏性风险，并对消费者构成潜在危害。为了解决这些问题，我们应用宏转录组学来识别瑞士养殖的欧洲鲈鱼中的疾病相关病毒。出乎意料的是，在临床患病的鱼中，我们检测到了新型淡水鱼丝状病毒、新型淡水鱼汉坦病毒和以前未知的弹状病毒。汉坦病毒滴度很高，我们通过原位杂交在巨噬细胞和鳃内皮细胞中证明了病毒。器官样本中的弹状病毒滴度很低，但可以通过细胞培养分离病毒。我们的数据增加了以下假设：丝状病毒、汉坦病毒、弹状病毒和弹状病毒是全球分布的常见鱼类共生体、病原体，或两者兼而有之。我们的发现为负义 RNA 病毒的多样性和进化提供了新的线索。