Infectious Myonecrosis Virus (IMNV) - An alarming viral pathogen to Penaeid shrimps

- Infectious myonecrosis virus (IMNV) is an emerging penaeid shrimp virus belongs to the family Totiviridae
- The virus is endemic to Brazil and Indonesia with a potential chance to spread transboundary.
- OIE is listed IMNV as one of major viral pathogen to crustaceans and initiated the active surveillance
- The infection is characterized by whitish muscles along the abdomen and tail region
- Good Management Practices can prevent the virus and diagnostics are under research phase

Intensification and diversification of the aquaculture practices made an opening to the emergence of new viral diseases daunting the farmers to achieve a sustained production. Viruses are obligatory parasites abundant in the aquatic environments and are being introduced in the sector directly or indirectly. Infectious Myonecrosis Virus (IMNV) is an emerging shrimp RNA virus causing the disease, infectious myonecrosis (IMN). The disease was reported first from Brazil and currently the geographical locations of infection span in Brazil and Indonesia. Research are centered on the viral pathogenesis, viral entry, disease prevention and epidemiology, diagnostics and molecular pathology. The recent developments in the synthetic and molecular biology techniques have paved way to explore IMNV at its molecular levels, yet further research has to be conducted to fully understand the virus as well as diagnostics of the disease with cause. This review covers all the aspects of the virus, IMNV and the disease IMN, research developments and emphasizes on the current progress and the future prospects of the research in control and prevention strategies.