Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/21331
Appears in Collections:Aquaculture Journal Articles
Peer Review Status: Refereed
Title: Reservoir hosts for Gyrodactylus salaris may play a more significant role in epidemics than previously thought
Author(s): Paladini, Giuseppe
Hansen, Haakon
Williams, Chris F
Taylor, Nicholas G H
Rubio-Mejia, Olga L
Denholm, Scott J
Hytterod, Sigurd
Bron, James
Shinn, Andrew
Contact Email: giuseppe.paladini@stir.ac.uk
Keywords: Parasite
Salmo salar
Atlantic salmon
Salmo trutta
Brown trout
Thymallus thymallus
Grayling
Susceptibility
Monogenea
Pathogen
Issue Date: 20-Dec-2014
Date Deposited: 22-Dec-2014
Citation: Paladini G, Hansen H, Williams CF, Taylor NGH, Rubio-Mejia OL, Denholm SJ, Hytterod S, Bron J & Shinn A (2014) Reservoir hosts for Gyrodactylus salaris may play a more significant role in epidemics than previously thought. Parasites and Vectors, 7, Art. No.: 576. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-014-0576-5
Abstract: Background: Gyrodactylus salaris Malmberg, 1957 has had a devastating impact on wild Norwegian stocks of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar L., and it is the only Office International des Epizooties (OIE) listed parasitic pathogen of fish. The UK is presently recognised as G. salaris-free, and management plans for its containment and control are currently based on Scandinavian studies. The current study investigates the susceptibility of British salmonids to G. salaris, and determines whether, given the host isolation since the last glaciation and potential genetic differences, the populations under test would exhibit different levels of susceptibility, as illustrated by the parasite infection trajectory over time, from their Scandinavian counterparts. Methods: Populations of S. salar, brown trout Salmo trutta L., and grayling Thymallus thymallus (L.), raised from wild stock in UK government hatcheries, were flown to Norway and experimentally challenged with a known pathogenic strain of G. salaris. Each fish was lightly anaesthetised and marked with a unique tattoo for individual parasite counting. A single Norwegian population of S. salar from the River Lærdalselva was used as a control. Parasite numbers were assessed every seven days until day 48 and then every 14 days. Results: Gyrodactylus salaris regularly leads to high mortalities on infected juveniles S. salar. The number of G. salaris on British S. salar rose exponentially until the experiment was terminated at 33 days due to fish welfare concerns. The numbers of parasites on S. trutta and T. thymallus increased sharply, reaching a peak of infection on days 12 and 19 post-infection respectively, before declining to a constant low level of infection until the termination of the experiment at 110 days. Conclusions: The ability of S. trutta and T. thymallus to carry an infection for long periods increases the window of exposure for these two hosts and the potential transfer of G. salaris to other susceptible hosts. This study demonstrates that G. salaris can persist on S. trutta for longer periods than previously thought, and that the role that S. trutta could play in disseminating G. salaris needs to be considered carefully and factored into management plans and epidemics across Europe.
DOI Link: 10.1186/s13071-014-0576-5
Rights: © Paladini et al.; licensee BioMed Central This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Licence URL(s): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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