Division I.1.2 Samples for reversed transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR or RT-qPCR) analysis

Samples shall be taken from the fish in accordance with the procedure described in point I.1.1 using a sterile instrument and transferred to a sterile plastic tube containing transport medium. Tissue from 10 fish may be collected in one tube and shall represent one pooled sample. However, in case the amount of inoculum is small, tissue from up to five fish may be used. Alternatively, samples may be pooled in RNA stabilization reagents, such as 0,2 g tissue/ml reagent according to the recommendation from the manufacturers, although each fish shall be processed individually and shall not be pooled in the samples because of the small amount of material to be used for extraction.

Whole fish may also be sent to the laboratory.