USFWS FDL# 78, BACTERIAL KIDNEY DISEASE OF SALMONID FISHES CAUSED BY RENIBACTERIUM SALMONINARUM

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Bacterial kidney disease (BKD) is a systemic infection that commonly causes high mortality in populations of wild and propagated salmonids. The disease course is typically chronic, but acute outbreaks sometimes occur, especially at moderate temperatures (1318°C). The first report of BKD described an infection in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in Scotland. In the United States, the disease was first reported by Belding and Merrill (1935), who described gross external and internal pathology in brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). The bacterium from trout was morphologically identical with the organism described from salmon. Because focal abscesses occur in the kidneys, spleen, and liver, BKD has also been called white boil disease.

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