renibacterium salmoninarum renibacterium salmoninarum renibacterium salmoninarum is a member of the micrococcaceae family. it is a gram-positive, intracellular bacterium that causes disease in young salmonid fish. the infection is most commonly known as "bacterial kidney disease" but may also be referred to as bkd, white boil disease, dee disease, salmonid kidney disease and corynebacterial kidney disease. it is of significant ecologic importance due to its effect on both farmed and wild salmonids. the disease is found in north america, europe, japan, chile and scandinavia, and is spread both vertically and horizontally. pacific salmon appear to be the most susceptible to the disease. renibacterium salmoninarum scientific classification domain: bacteria phylum: actinomycetota class: actinomycetia order: micrococcales family: micrococcaceae genus: renibacteriumsanders and fryer 1980 species: r. salmoninarum binomial name renibacterium salmoninarumsanders and fryer 1980 type strain tcc 33209cip 103036dsm 20767ifo 15589jcm 11484lea-1-74lmg 10846nbrc 15589 clinical signs the severity of clinical signs is very variable. there may be no outward clinical signs, or fish may show signs of lethargy and anaemia. haemorrhagic skin lesions and exophthalmos may develop. on postmortem examination there are normally signs of necrosis and granulomatous inflammation on the internal organs, especially the kidney. a diagnosis cannot be made based on clinical signs, instead laboratory tests such as specialised bacterial culture, elisa, pcr and fluorescent antibody testing are necessary to identify the bacteria. ideally more than one test should be used to confirm diagnosis. treatment & control oral or injectable antibiotics should be used to treat the infection. intraperitoneal vaccination can also be used to treat fish in an outbreak. prevention is very important, and husbandry measures such as segregation, culling and decontamination should be used to ensure infection is not introduced.