Special Issue "Recent Scientific Advances in Vaccines for Aquatic Animal Diseases"

Dear Colleagues,

For last three decades, fish production by capture has been stagnating, and any increase in fish production has come from aquaculture. However, diseases are a major constraint for the development of aquaculture, and with antimicrobial resistance looming over the veterinary sector, there is a need to protect aquaculture species by vaccination.

Cultured aquatic species are highly diverse, ranging from invertebrates such as mollusks and crustacean shellfish to vertebrate finfish. The immune systems in these animals are highly divergent, and a good understanding of the immune system is very important for the development of vaccines for these animals. Further, there is very high pathogen diversity affecting aquatic animal health, ranging from viruses to parasites. A good understanding of the antigens associated with pathogens of aquatic animals and their role in inducing a protective immune response is crucial to the development of effective vaccines. Vaccine delivery to aquatic animals is a major topic of interest, since large numbers of animals are handled during the immunization process.

While killed vaccines have been available for a long time, there are newer technologies, such as subunit vaccines and DNA vaccines, that are being explored for different pathogens. The efficiency of immune response induced by different vaccines varies and improved knowledge of immune efficiency will help with the development of cost-effective vaccines.

This Special Issue of Vaccines will cover the synthesis of knowledge on vaccines for aquatic animals that are commercially important. These includes shellfish and finfish cultured in both freshwater and marine environments. Potential topics range from new advances in vaccine development technology, vaccine delivery methodologies, measuring efficiency of vaccines, and the commercialization potential of new vaccines for aquaculture.

Dr. Iddya Karunasagar
Dr. Indrani Karunasagar
Guest Editors

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• fish immune response
• adjuvants
• DNA vaccines
• subunit vaccines
• vaccine delivery systems
• immunological memory
• booster dose
• immunomodulation
• antigenic epitopes