EARLY DETECTION OF VIBRIO ANGUIIIA RUM IN WATERS: A CHALLENGE EXPERIENCE ON DICENTRARCHUS LABRAX IN MICROCOSM

摘要

Rapid methods for the detection of bacterial pathogens are needed to prevent pathologies. Particular interest covers the early detection and diagnosis of vibriosis, one of the major fish farming diseases in the Mediterranean Sea. New analytical procedures, currently in use in microbial ecology, allowing the discrimination of the living and dead fractions of the bacterial population and the detection of target bacteria by the indirect fluorescent antibody technique (IFAT) offer wide perspectives in this field. We used the Live/Dead BacLight staining method (Molecular Probes) to estimate both viable and total bacterial densities in microcosm. Moreover we developed a method for the rapid and sensitive detection of Listonella (Vibrio) anguillarum in water systems using specific antibodies against this species. We tested the reliability of these methodologies during an experimental infection on specimens of Dicentrarchus labrax, challenged with L. anguillarum, in order to provide a new tool for early diagnosis in farming fish.