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Infectious diseases of viral origin cause major aquatic production losses in different parts of the world. Because of formidable barriers for gastrointestinal tract, skin and cell, large amounts of antiviral drugs have limited therapeutic effect. In the current study, functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were selected as a drug carrier to carry antiviral drug for the treatment of viral diseases on fish. The results show that increasing antiviral drug (ribavirin) intake was observed by SWCNTs carrier and therapeutic dosage to kill grass carp reovirus is significantly reduced. At 12 d post infection, survival rate and infection rate were 29.7% and 50.4% for naked ribavirin treatment group exposed to the highest concentration (20 mg/L); however, survival rate of 96.6% and infection rate of 9.4% were observed in 5 mg/L ribavirin-SWCNTs treatment group. In addition, the drug detention time in different organs and tissues (blood, gill, liver, muscle, kidney and intestine) was also significantly extended (about 72 h) compared with the same dosage in naked ribavirin treatment group. Moreover, the toxicity of functionalized SWCNTs in grass carp can be minimal, and physiological markers (some antioxidant enzymes activities, apoptotic factors activities and their corresponding genes expression) remained within normal ranges following treatment. Our results indicated that drug delivery with functionalized SWCNTs can improve the antiviral effect on grass carp and has a potential application value to control fish viral diseases in aquaculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]