Dear Colleagues,

Fish intake plays an important role in the human diet, providing proteins of high nutritional value. The improvement of fish farming systems has made aquaculture an expanding sector that already supplies more than 50% of the fish protein consumed worldwide, surpassing fish catches. With the intensive growth of fish, the incidence of infectious diseases caused by pathogens has increased over the years, endangering the stability between animal health and welfare, food quality, and the sustainability of the sector. Moreover, the spread of pathogens has intensified with the constant transport of eggs and larvae between fish farms all over the world. In fact, mortality is only the final symptom of this dispersion. Survivors to an outbreak often initiate persistent infections and become asymptomatic carriers, the pathogens being disseminated with no solutions in sight in the short-medium term.

Finding solutions to the proliferation of infectious diseases entails the characterization of pathogens, the approaches to potential treatments or vaccines being different depending on whether they are of bacterial, viral, or parasitic origin and the specific characteristics of pathogen interaction with the host cells. Nowadays, vaccines have been positioned as one of the most effective preventive tools against the spread of infectious agents. In the aquaculture sector, there are already commercial vaccines available, especially against bacteria or viruses, but they are scarce against parasites. In the case of bacteria, vaccines try to mitigate the antibiotic resistance generated by the exacerbated abuse of antibiotics over the time. However, and despite the great efforts made, vaccines are still far from being a complete solution to the high mortality rates and morbidity triggered in fish farms. As an alternative, antimicrobial and immunomodulatory treatments are appearing with promising findings, but they still do not demonstrate reliable and feasible results that could be applied to the industry at this moment. Taking into account these limited solutions, a combination of generation of basic knowledge about the pathogen concomitantly with advances in new technologies seems mandatory to promote the development of specific measures against these pathogens.

This Special Issue aims to collect full-length articles, review articles, and short communications containing original research on emerging or relevant fish pathogens in aquaculture. This compilation will be composed of, but not limited to, the characterization of fish pathogens, complex host–pathogen interaction, and the keys for new treatments or prevention tools against them. Innovative methodologies for characterization or diagnosis will also be appreciated.

We look forward to receiving your latest findings on fish pathogens research and innovation

References:

1. Aslam ML, Carraro R, Sonesson AK, Meuwissen T, Tsigenopoulos CS, Rigos G, Bargelloni L, Tzokas K. Genetic variation, GWAS and accuracy of prediction for host resistance to Sparicotyle chrysophrii in farmed gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata). Front Genet. 2020 Dec 22;11:594770. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2020.594770.

2. Han H, Li T, Wang Z, Teng D, Mao R, Hao Y, Yang N, Wang X, Wang J. Improved stability and activity of a marine meptide-N6NH2 against Edwardsiella tarda and its preliminary application in fish. Mar Drugs. 2020 Dec 17;18(12):650. doi: 10.3390/md18120650.

3. Ramírez-Paredes JG, Paley RK, Hunt W, Feist SW, Stone DM, Field TR, Haydon DJ, Ziddah PA, Nkansa M, Guilder J, Gray J, Duodu S, Pecku EK, Awuni JA, Wallis TS, Verner-Jeffreys DW. First detection of infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus (ISKNV) associated with massive mortalities in farmed tilapia in Africa. Transbound Emerg Dis. 2020 Sep 13. doi: 10.1111/tbed.13825.

Prof. Yulema Valero
Dr. Carmen González-Fernández
Guest Editors

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• fish pathogens
• aquaculture
• virus
• bacteria
• parasites
• treatments
• antimicrobial
• host–pathogen interaction
• fish immune response