Postprint This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published in [Aquaculture] available online 17 December 2013 at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0044848613006480 Please cite as: Paul-Pont, I., Evans, O., Dhand, N. K., Rubio, A., Coad, P., & Whittington, R. J. (2014). Descriptive epidemiology of mass mortality due to Ostreid herpesvirus-1 (OsHV-1) in commercially farmed Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas) in the Hawkesbury River estuary, Australia. Aquaculture, 422-423, 146-159. Descriptive epidemiology of mass mortality due to Ostreid herpesvirus-1 (OsHV-1) in commercially farmed Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas) in the Hawkesbury River estuary, Australia I Paul-Pont1, O Evans1, NK Dhand1, A Rubio2, P Coad2 and RJ Whittington1 1Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, 425 Werombi Road, Camden NSW 2570, Australia 2Hornsby Shire Council, 296 Pacific Highway, PO Box 37, Hornsby NSW 1630, Australia Corresponding author: RJ Whittington e-mail
[email protected]; tel +61 2 93511619; fax +61 2 93511618 Abstract Mortality of farmed triploid Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas) associated with Ostreid herpesvirus-1 (OsHV-1) was first recorded in Australia in the Georges River/Botany Bay estuary (New South Wales) in late 2010. Two years later, the first sign of possible inter-estuarine spread was observed when commercial triploid Pacific oysters in the Hawkesbury River estuary, located 50 km north of Botany Bay, were affected by mass mortality. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological