Exploring the role of biofilm and protein-foam to reduce the spread of fish pathogens in the aquaculture industry

Next after oil, fish is today the largest export article and has a great economic importance for Norway and in particular the coastal areas of Norway. Unfortunately, the aquaculture industry experience great losses every year due to viral diseases. Prelim inary studies performed by the industrial partners of this project indicate that biofilm and proteinfoam can contain significant amounts of virus, and can probably assist in virus dispersion. Biofilm has become a field of increasing studies the later yea rs, although surprisingly few studies involving biofilms in the aquaculture industry have been published. Few, if any industires are as exposed to biofilms as the aquaculture industry, as all surfaces submerged in water are rapidly covered by a biofilm. M ost studies so far focus on biofilms in water distribution systems and dental health aspects, as well as biofilms on surgery implants, where they pose a serious health risk. The common knowledge from these studies is that bacterial and viral pathogens can bind to biofilms, remain infective for a prolonged time, accumulate, and find shelter from antibiotics and disinfections. When it comes to protein-foam, little information is available on bothe the components and the relevance of protein-foam for the spr ead of disease agents. The basic idea of this project is to determine the role of these two biological materials for the transmission of pathogens, including Infectious Pancreas Necrosis Virus (IPNV), Infectious Salmon Anaemia Virus (ISAV), and Pancreas Disease Virus (PDV), in the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) aquaculture industry. Of particular interest is the capability of biofilm and protein-foam to bind and accumulate these viruses, and to provide protection of the virus from degeneration.