Projects

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. However, sufficient in vitro propagation of PRV and PMCV have not been successful in commonly used fish cell lines and thus the development of inactivated whole-virus vaccines has not been possible.

This project fit nicely and timely with the RCN funded platform Fish Virus Vaccines (ViVaFish).

Norsk sammendrag:
Vellykket vaksinasjon bidrar til økt fiskehelse og -velferd i oppdrettsnæringen. Kontroll med infeksjonssykdommer hos oppdrettslaks reduserer også risikoen for spredning av smitte til miljøet.

Pharmaq AS har det overordnete ansvaret for prosjektet.

Prosjektledr ved NMBU er professor Espen Rimstad.