# European eels transmit a herpesvirus through bites, revealing another route for fish infections

Source: [Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology](https://phys.org/news/2026-11-european-eels-transmit-herpesvirus-revealing.html) · 2026-11-11 · Life
Page: https://themorning.science/story/european-eels-transmit-a-herpesvirus-through-bites-revealing-another-route-for-f-5f890881b81911d0
Kind: research · Impact: medium

## In brief

- A team from the University of Liège found that a herpesvirus affecting European eels can spread efficiently through bites.
- This challenges the previous belief that fish viruses spread mainly through water acting as an abiotic vector.

## Why it matters

It shows that direct animal-to-animal contact, not only water, can drive viral infections in fish, which matters for how researchers model disease spread in wild and farmed eel populations.

## Coverage

- [European eels transmit a herpesvirus through bites, revealing another route for fish infections](https://phys.org/news/2026-11-european-eels-transmit-herpesvirus-revealing.html) — Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology, 2026-11-11

Tags: eels, herpesvirus, fish-disease, transmission, virology

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Brief generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) from the reporting listed under Coverage. Headlines belong to their publishers. The Morning Science – https://themorning.science