Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease (AHPND): Virulence, Pathogenesis and Mitigation Strategies in Shrimp Aquaculture

Abstract

Shrimp, as a high-protein animal food commodity, are one of the fastest growing food producing sectors in the world. It has emerged as a highly traded seafood product, currently exceeding 8 MT of high value. However, disease outbreaks, which are considered as the primary cause of production loss in shrimp farming, have moved to the forefront in recent years and brought socio-economic and environmental unsustainability to the shrimp aquaculture industry. Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND), caused by Vibrio spp., is a relatively new farmed penaeid shrimp bacterial disease. The shrimp production in AHPND affected regions has dropped to ~60%, and the disease has caused a global loss of USD 43 billion to the shrimp farming industry. The conventional approaches, such as antibiotics and disinfectants, often applied for the mitigation or cure of AHPND, have had limited success. Additionally, their usage has been associated with alteration of host gut microbiota and immunity and development of antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens. For example, the Mexico AHPND-causing V. parahaemolyticus strain (13-306D/4 and 13-511/A1) were reported to carry tetB gene coding for tetracycline resistance gene, and V. campbellii from China was found to carry multiple antibiotic resistance genes. As a consequence, there is an urgent need to thoroughly understand the virulence mechanism of AHPND-causing Vibrio spp. and develop novel management strategies to control AHPND in shrimp aquaculture, that will be crucially important to ensure food security in the future and offer economic stability to farmers. In this review, the most important findings of AHPND are highlighted, discussed and put in perspective, and some directions for future research are presented.

Outbreak of Ichthyophthirius multifiliis associated with Aeromonas hydrophila in Pangasianodon hypophthalmus: The role of turmeric oil in enhancing immunity and inducing resistance against co-infection

“…Although co-infection is very common in aquatic animals, very few attempts have been made to unravel the mechanism of co-infections in fishes to determine host susceptibility, disease course, and severity in order to develop a suitable management approach to control these infections. Hence, there is a need to develop natural compounds/ molecules that could confer protection and/or enhance immune reactivity against biotic and abiotic stressors, in a manner conceptually equivalent to probiotics, vaccines, or immunostimulants (40,(55)(56)(57)(58)(59). These compounds have received great attention in recent years with regard to fish because of the additional biodegradable and biocompatible properties that work on One Health approach, particularly relevant in food safety and combating antibiotic resistance (16,60,61).…”

Monitoring the occurrence of Zoea Syndrome (ZS) in pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) larval from several hatcheries in East Java, Indonesia

“…However, when the natural defense mechanisms of shrimp are suppressed due to disease and environmental stressors, these bacteria will become "opportunistic pathogens" for shrimp [37]. The intensive culture systems, both larval and shrimp species are often exposed to stress conditions due to high stocking densities that lead to the emergence of secondary vibriosis [38]. Thus, our findings can be used as an initial reference in efforts to manage the health of Pacific white shrimp fry which will be cultivated in an intensive system by the relevant authorities.…”

Combining Direct PCR Technology and Capillary Electrophoresis for an Easy-to-Operate and Highly Sensitive Infectious Disease Detection System for Shrimp

“…Major shrimp infectious disease outbreaks on a global scale occur every few years, including white spot disease (WSD), acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND), and hepatopancreatic microsporidiosis (HPM), which have become prevalent in recent years [4]. According to recent studies, these diseases have caused an annual global economic loss of USD 7.8 billion [5][6][7].…”