Development of vaccines against HSMI and CMS

Successful vaccination is an efficient way to increase fish health and welfare. Controlling the infections among farmed salmon also reduce the risk for spread of infectious agents and diseases to the environment. The present project has elaborated on the recent breakthroughs regarding causal relationship in farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) between piscine reovirus (PRV) and Heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) and piscine myocarditis virus (PMCV) and cardiomyopathy syndrome (CMS). Both diseases cause severe economic losses to salmonid aquaculture. Protective vaccines in the salmon aquaculture market to these diseases are very much needed. In this project we have developed and tested different vaccines against HSMI and CMS. Basic tools and methods have been established. A vaccine based on inactivated PRV has been shown to give protection against HSMI. This supports the hypothesis that PRV is the causative agent of HSMI. We have optimized the challenge model for CMS, and vaccines against CMS based on different vaccine technologies are in development.

Successful vaccination is an efficient way to increase fish health and welfare. Controlling the infections among farmed salmon also reduce the risk for spread of infectious agents and diseases to the environment. The present project aims to elaborate the recent breakthroughs regarding causal relationship in farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) between piscine reovirus (PRV) and Heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) and piscine myocarditis virus (PMCV) and cardiomyopathy syndrome (CMS). Both diseases cause severe economic losses to salmonid aquaculture, with 134 and 100 registered outbreaks in 2013, respectively. Protective vaccines in the salmon aquaculture market to these diseases are very much needed. The nature of the vaccine antigen and its route of delivery are important parameters of the vaccine formulation. In general, live attenuated vaccines induce the most protective effects and long-lasting immunity, but to avoid the risk for reversion to a virulent form effective whole-virus antigen or sub-unit vaccines are preferred in aquaculture. This project will explore different strategies for vaccination against HSMI and CMS as well as study the development of the diseases in more detail. We will also investigate the transmission routes for PMCV.