I took some swabs for KHV the other day on behalf of one of my clients and just received the following mail from MDS:

Dear Mr Viljoen,

Thank you for using our service. We acknowledge your request for a KHV free certificate unfortunately we have changed our policy with regards the issuing of KHV free certificates. This followed discussions and input from Veterinarians involved in the control of aquatic diseases. We will now only issue a certificate if the sample is collected by a veterinarian. We will certify the results but the certificate will be signed by the veterinarian who collected the sample.

I do apologise for any inconvenience that this has caused.

Kind regards

Dr York

This new policy is going to affect the costs of KHV tests dramatically. Previously, when hobbyists were in doubt, they were quite prepared to send swabs to make sure because at R 560 for three tests, it was not a high price to pay for that peace of mind.

Now, they will think twice. In the Western Cape, there are only one, maybe two vets that are willing to be called out for fish, and at a huge price tag.

The average vet do not know anything about Koi and is not interested.

Imagine you are situated in a remote area. You will have to search for and call out a vet from very far away to attend to the swab, being a very simple procedure.

This new ruling is going to affect the spread of KHV in South Africa negatively. Hobbyists will not pay more than a thousand rand to test their collection and dealers are going to do much less tests, at the possible cost of hobbyists.

What is your view?

Hmm...sounds like a money making scam.

I know several hobbists that now more about koi and koi health than a vet and i am including myself in this list....its totally rediculus. Vets know @#$%^ about koi.

In my opinion...They should alter their policy to atleast allow SAKTA registered dealers to certify KHV tests.

I actually sat down and thought this trough and it actually makes sense.

We are only thinking of it from a Koi hobbist or dealer perseption while MDS is thinking of it in a wider scope. You can only guarentee a test if the person that took the test knows what they are doing....so all though vets do not specialise in koi i guess there are vets that specialise in aqua culture.

Can not agree with you Wayne. If I want the peace of mind (for myself) that my koi does not have KHV, why insist on a Vet? It does not make sense.

I have told Dr York that I will in future send my swabs to Germany for much cheaper.

I just received a mail from him that they will still test the swabs taken by individuals and will send the results, but a certificate will only be issued if the test was done by a vet.

I have got no problem with this. Matter solved.

MDS is just covering them selfs from possible legal issue, they cant guarentee the results as they do not know how the samples where obtained...so they are moving the resposibity of obtaining the sample to someone that is suppose to be qualified to do it and it is that person that also signs the certificate. So they are just doing the test in the end.