Diseases in Aquaculture

The aim of the course is to understand the importance of microbial, viral and parasitic diseases in aquaculture, how to enumerate micro-organisms, to convey methodologies to prevent, to cure microbial diseases and and how to handle, manipulate and sample fish.

• bacterial morphology;
• enumeration methods for bacteria (including pcr, elisa);
• antibiotics and antibiotic resistance, vaccination and immunostimulants in aquaculture;
• overview of a selection of relevant aquatic animal diseases;
• hygiene and sanitation;
• probiotics;
• case studies of marine fish hatcheries, including vaccination protocols;
• handling/sampling techniques;
• basic principles in epidemiology and ethical issues;
• practical lab work on bacterial antibiotics susceptibility, bacterial plasmid conjugation, quorum sensing, bacterial virulence factors;
• practical work on clinical investigation of fish.

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:

• show insight into microbial morphology;
• show insight into techniques to enumerate bacteria;
• show knowledge on aquatic animal diseases and their causative/eliciting agents;
• show insight into the pathogenesis of microbial diseases;
• show insight into the importance of hygienic techniques in an aquaculture environment;
• understand techniques for disease prevention, including the use of probiotics, immunostimulants and vaccines;
• understand techniques for disease mitigation such as the use of antibiotics and bacteriophages;
• show knowledge on handling and sampling techniques;
• enumerate aquaculture pathogens;
• determine antibiotic resistance transmission among bacterial species;
• show knowledge on basic principles in epidemiology and ethical issues.

Assumed Knowledge:
General Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry and basic knowledge on Aquaculture.