POTENTIAL FOR GREAT EGRETS (ARDEA ALBA) TO TRANSMIT A VIRULENT STRAIN OF AEROMONAS HYDROPHILA AMONG CHANNEL CATFISH (ICTALURUS PUNCTATUS) CULTURE PONDS

Authors

Madison M. Jubirt, Mississippi State University
Larry A. Hanson, Mississippi State UniversityFollow
Katie C. Hanson-Dorr, Mississippi Field Station, National Wildlife Research Center, Wildlife Services, US Department of Agriculture
Lorelei Ford, Mississippi State University
Scott Lemmons, Mississippi Field Station, National Wildlife Research Center, Wildlife Services, US Department of Agriculture
Paul Fioranelli, Mississippi Field Station, National Wildlife Research Center, Wildlife Services, US Department of Agriculture
Fred L. Cunningham, USDA/APHIS/WS National Wildlife Research Center Mississippi Field StationFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2015

Citation

Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 51(3), 2015, pp. 634–639

Abstract

Aeromonas hydrophila is a gram-negative, rod-shaped, facultative, anaerobic bacterium that is ubiquitous in freshwater and slightly brackish aquatic environments and infects fish, humans, reptiles, and birds. Recent severe outbreaks of disease in commercial channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) aquaculture ponds have been associated with a highly virulent A. hydrophila strain (VAH), which is genetically distinct from less-virulent strains. The epidemiology of this disease has not been determined. Given that A. hydrophila infects birds, we hypothesized that fish-eating birds may serve as a reservoir for VAH and spread the pathogen by flying to uninfected ponds. Great Egrets (Ardea alba) were used in this transmission model because these wading birds frequently prey on farmed catfish. Great Egrets that were fed VAH-infected catfish shed VAH in feces demonstrating their potential to spread VAH.