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The article presents a study which described the first cases of red mark syndrome (RMS) or cold water strawberry disease (CWSD) in Switzerland and Austria. Two affected Swiss farms which raise rainbow trout were examined to determine the likelihood of haematopoietic necrosis (IHN) and infectious pancreatic necrosis 9IPN) virus. Animals from both countries showed similar lesions at necropsy while bacteriological examination of skin, liver, spleen and kidney using blood agar plates, bromothymol blue-lactose-agar plates and Cytophaga agar plates revealed no pathogenic bacteria.

Red mark syndrome (RMS) or cold water strawberry disease (CWSD) is a non-lethal skin disease of rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss that is of high economic importance in the UK. The disease is temperature-dependent, with up to 60% morbidity at water temperatures below 15 degrees C. Although CWSD is horizontally transmissible, the aetiology is still unknown. Here we describe the first cases of RMS on the European mainland in the alpine regions of Switzerland and Austria. In Switzerland, morbidity remained around 1% after the first outbreak, whereas in Austria no further cases were diagnosed.