Vaccine Development for Asian Aquaculture
13 November 2006
In conjunction with good health management, vaccination is a powerful tool for disease control in modern day fish farming. Vaccination of fish has become a standard operating procedure in most countries in Europe and North America. In Asia, with the exception of Japan, vaccines are not commonly used for fish disease control. This is inconsistent with the large quantities of fish that are being produced in this region. There are several reasons
for the lack of vaccine products in Asia. Firstly, more resources are needed to understand the basic epidemiology of diseases and the immune system of many species. Secondly, most of the farms are operated on a small scale with little technical support. Farmers focus more on treatment than prevention as antibiotics are largely available. In addition, since development and commercialization of vaccines requires a great deal of time and resources,
only few companies are committed and specialized in this field. The major advantages of vaccination over therapeutic treatments are that vaccines provide long-lasting protection and leave no adverse residues in the product or the environment. A critical milestone in vaccine development is the understanding of the disease etiology and epidemiology. At present, more and more information is being generated by governmental institutes, universities and the private sector. In the foreseeable future, this knowledge will lead to successful development of vaccines specifically for the Asian aquaculture industry.
LUC GRISEZ AND ZILONG TAN
