Because EHP has become so prevalent in farmed penaeid
shrimp stocks, there is a need to develop specific, rapid, and sensitive
diagnostic methods so that the pathogen can be monitored
and management strategies can be developed. To this end, we
applied PCR to amplify the 18S rRNA gene from EHP, generated a
digoxigenin-labeled probe to identify the EHP infection within
the cells by in situ hybridization, and developed a specific PCR
for detecting EHP in shrimp tissues, feces and water.