Vaccines for fish in aquaculture

1 February 2005

Vaccination plays an important role in large-scale commercial fish farming and has been a key reason for the success of salmon cultivation. In addition to salmon and trout, commercial vaccines are available for channel catfish, European seabass and seabream, Japanese amberjack and yellowtail, tilapia and Atlantic cod. In general, empirically developed vaccines based on Inactivated bacterial pathogens have proven to be very efficacious in fish.  Fewer commercially available viral vaccines and no parasite vaccines exist.  Substantial efficacy data are available for new fish vaccines and advanced technology ahs been implemented.  However, before such vaccines can be successfully commercialized, several hurdles have to be overcome regarding the prodution of cheap but effective antigens and adjuvants, while bearing in mind environmental and assocaited regulatory concerns (e.g., those that limit the use of live vaccines).  Pharmaceutical companies have performed a considerable amount of research on fish vaccines, however, limited information is available and commercial focus, despite their relatively small contribution to the total volume of farmed fish in the world.  This review provides an overview of the fish vaccines that are currently commercially available and some viewpoints on how the field is likely to evolve in the near future.

• Vaccines for fish in aquaculture (2895kb)