Cure Possible For Deadly Fish Disorder

The cure for whirling disease, a deadly disorder in fish, may lie in gene replacement, according to the science director for the Whirling Disease Foundation.

Scientists eventually may be able to take genes from brown trout or other species that resist whirling disease, and inject them into rainbow trout, to develop populations capable of fighting the disorder, Karl Johnson said.

He spoke Thursday at a public meeting on whirling disease, a parasitic infection named for the tail-chasing motion that it causes in fish.

Whirling disease is spread by a microbe that travels as a spore and is carried by a common aquatic worm, Johnson said.