Fish veterinary pathologists have tested a new vaccine for the disease mycobacteriosis, a disease for which there was previously no treatment.
Pasnik and Smith of the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, produced a vaccine based on the Mycobacterium marinum Ag85A gene, and tested it on Striped bass, Morone saxatilis, a species particularly susceptible to mycobacteriosis infections.
Their findings, which are published in the February 2005 issue of Veterinary Pathology and Immunopathology, describe how all of the vaccinated fish developed antibodies to the Ag85A antigen.
The vaccinated fish proved to be protected against live M. marinum for 90-days following their initial inoculation.
For more details see the paper: Pasnik DJ, Smith SA. (2005) - Immunogenic and protective effects of a DNA vaccine for Mycobacterium marinum in fish. Vet Immunol Immunopathol. 2005 Feb 10;103(3-4):195-206.