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. 2015 Jul 21:11:155.
doi: 10.1186/s12917-015-0482-x.

First report of Edwardsiellosis in cage-cultured sharpsnout sea bream, Diplodus puntazzo from the Mediterranean

Pantelis Katharios  1 , Constantina Kokkari  2 , Nancy Dourala  3 , Maria Smyrli  4
Affiliations

First report of Edwardsiellosis in cage-cultured sharpsnout sea bream, Diplodus puntazzo from the Mediterranean

Pantelis Katharios et al. BMC Vet Res. .

Abstract

Background: Edwardsiella tarda, is a serious bacterial pathogen affecting a broad range of aquaculture fish species. The bacterium has also been reported as a human pathogen, however recent studies have dissociated the fish pathogenic Edwardsiella from those isolated from humans by placing them in a new species, E. piscicida. Here we report the first case of Edwardsiellosis in cultured sharpsnout sea breams, Diplodus puntazzo in Greece.

Case presentation: The disease has affected cultured sharpsnout sea breams of a commercial fish farm in a single location in East Greece. Two populations of sharpsnout sea breams stocked in two consecutive years in floating cages presented signs of disease which included nodules and abscesses in spleen and kidney, morbidity and cumulative mortality reaching 5.3 %. Using microbiological, biochemical and molecular tools we have identified Edwardsiella sp. as the main aetiological factor of the disease. Following phylogenetic analysis the bacterial isolates are grouped with the newly described Edwardsiella piscicida species.

Conclusions: This is the first report of Edwardsiellosis in this species but most importantly in sea cage-cultured fish in the Mediterranean which may pose a serious threat for aquaculture fish species in this region.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Nodules in spleen. Enlarged spleen of affected fish with multiple whitish nodules
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Virulence genes. PCR amplification of selected virulence genes for EtS1. Lanes 1–7: esrB, katB, gadB, citC, mukF, fimA, gyrB
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Phylogenetic analysis. Phylogenetic relationships of Edwardsiella strains studied as derived from Neighbour-Joining analysis for 16S gene. Numbers on clades indicate the bootstrap values
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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