1. IntroductionViral diseases conti

1. Introduction
Viral diseases continue to be a major threat to
the shrimp aquaculture industry because many
viral infections remain undetected until they result
in massive disease outbreaks. A major solution to
the control and prevention of shrimp viral pathogens
would be the development of rapid, sensitive,
specific and cost-effective technologies for the early
detection of viral infections. Nucleic acid- and:orimmunologically-based detection protocols have
been described for the detection of the infectious
hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV), pathogenic penaeid shrimp viruses,