Emerging Pathogens in Aquaculture

Dear Colleagues,

Aquaculture, although it is usually an artificially separated part of the animal world, remains under the influence of the surrounding environment in addition to being under constant pressure from the pathogens that live in this environment. People try to control the environmental conditions of aquaculture as much as possible, aiming to protect aquatic animals from pathogens, but Nature has its own ways of overcoming these protections. The range of pathogens that threaten aquaculture is also evolving as a result of climate change, the movements and migrations of animals, as well as cross-border transport. It is important to point out that the early detection of emerging pathogens is essential to prevent infections from spreading and ensure the effective treatment of infected populations. It should also be noted that the introduction of more sensitive diagnostic methods results in the discovery of pathogens in the aquatic environment that was not possible before. Among them, bacteria and viruses are the largest groups. The introduction of new technologies, e.g., high-throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS) and metagenomics analysis (Riesenfeld et al., 2004; Handelsman, 2004), resulted in the discovery of a large number of new viruses, which was not possible using traditional cell cultures, immunoassays, and basic PCR techniques. As an example, one can mention sturgeon affected by herpesviruses and mimiviruses or Carp picornavirus 1, Fisavirus 1 or Banna virus infecting carp. More examples can be found in (Munang'andu HM, Front Microbiol, 8, 2017). Metagenomics analysis can also be very useful in the assessment of the microbial diversity in an aquaculture environment and the identification of antibiotic resistance genes of pathogenic bacteria otherwise missed by cultivation-based methods. The purpose of this Special Issue is to encourage scientists working on emerging viral pathogens to present their latest research in the form of original research papers, short reports, case studies or review articles. We expect a series of publications on, inter alia, diagnostic methods, clinical symptoms, pathogenesis, methods of treatment, and pathogen–host relationships. We believe that this initiative will enable not only better diagnosis, but also a better understanding of the pathomechanisms of viral diseases of aquatic animals.

Prof. Dr. Michał Marek Reichert
Guest Editor

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• viruses
• pathogenesis
• diagnostic methods
• emerging infectious diseases
• aquaculture