Granulomatosis in fish aquaculture: a mini review

Abstract

AbstractBacterial infections represent the greatest threat for fish culture, especially those causing granulomatous processes. Although there are experimental models used to elucidate the mechanisms of pathogenicity in granulomatous processes, most of these aimed to understand the infection in superior vertebrates like humans; therefore, there is still an urgent need to expand the number of infection models focused on aquaculture. Granulomatous infections are difficult to detect in early stages due to the lack of clinical signs and because these clinical signs have a great similarity to those generated by other pathogenic bacteria. Besides, there is no evidence or reports of granulomatous co‐infections in aquaculture environments which is a plausible scenario either in culture systems or in the wild environment; co‐infections could interfere with a correct diagnosis of any granulomatous disease, as reported for granulomatous infections in terrestrial species. This revision aims to highlight the state of the art in the knowledge of pathogenic bacteria associated with granulomatosis in fish aquaculture as well as analysing this information.