Apparently healthy wild noble crayfish (Astacus astacus) sampled from Lake Mikitänjärvi, Kainuu, Finland in
2009 and 2010 were discovered to be PCR-positive for Aphanomyces astaci. Detection prevalence was lower
in 2009 than in 2010. Despite the detected sublethal infection, the Lake Mikitänjärvi population has been productive
and is being under commercial exploitation. Even though it has been suggested frequently that noble
crayfish might harbor subclinical crayfish plague infections, this is the first confirmed report, based on molecular
evidence, of healthy A. astacus carrying A. astaci.