Viral gametocyte hypertrophy in oysters

Infections have been diagnosed in C. virginica from  Alabama,  Florida, Georgia,  Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Maine. Histologically similar lesions have been seen in C. gigas from Oregon, Washington, Ko- rea, and Japan and in 0. lurida from Oregon, Washing- ton, Korea, and Japan. C. rhizophorae from Puerto Rico also had similar lesions. These lesions range in peak prevalence from less than 1 % to as high as 30 % in the population. High prevalence has been  seen in  Maine.
Hypertrophied cells are most likely to be found in animals in the maturing and mature stages of gametogenesis July-August); infections occur in both males and females but seem to be more common in females. Heavy infections are rare; 1 to 350 infected cells per histologic section have been found; the average is 4 per section.