Emerging Pathogens in Aquaculture

Dear Colleagues,

Aquaculture, although it is usually an artificially separated part of the animal world, remains under the influence of the surrounding environment in addition to being under constant pressure from the pathogens that live in this environment. People try to control the environmental conditions of aquaculture as much as possible, aiming to protect aquatic animals from pathogens, but Nature has its own ways of overcoming these protections. The range of pathogens that threaten aquaculture is also evolving as a result of climate change, the movements and migrations of animals, as well as cross-border transport. It is important to point out that the early detection of emerging pathogens is essential to prevent infections from spreading and ensure the effective treatment of infected populations. It should also be noted that the introduction of more sensitive diagnostic methods results in the discovery of pathogens in the aquatic environment that was not possible before. Among them, bacteria and viruses are the largest groups. The introduction of new technologies, e.g., high-throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS) and metagenomics analysis (Riesenfeld et al., 2004; Handelsman, 2004), resulted in the discovery of a large number of new viruses, which was not possible using traditional cell cultures, immunoassays, and basic PCR techniques. As an example, one can mention sturgeon affected by herpesviruses and mimiviruses or Carp picornavirus 1, Fisavirus 1 or Banna virus infecting carp. More examples can be found in (Munang'andu HM, Front Microbiol, 8, 2017). Metagenomics analysis can also be very useful in the assessment of the microbial diversity in an aquaculture environment and the identification of antibiotic resistance genes of pathogenic bacteria otherwise missed by cultivation-based methods. The purpose of this Special Issue is to encourage scientists working on emerging viral pathogens to present their latest research in the form of original research papers, short reports, case studies or review articles. We expect a series of publications on, inter alia, diagnostic methods, clinical symptoms, pathogenesis, methods of treatment, and pathogen–host relationships. We believe that this initiative will enable not only better diagnosis, but also a better understanding of the pathomechanisms of viral diseases of aquatic animals.

Prof. Dr. Michał Marek Reichert
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pathogens is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• viruses
• pathogenesis
• diagnostic methods
• emerging infectious diseases
• aquaculture