Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) outbreaks in Penaeus vannamei and P. monodon cultured in the Philippines

Abstract

Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) has recently emerged as a serious disease of cultured shrimp. It has also been described as early mortality syndrome (EMS) due to mass mortalities occurring within 20 to 30 d after stocking of ponds with postlarvae. Here, Penaeus vannamei and Penaeus monodon from shrimp farms in the Philippines were examined for the toxin-producing strain of Vibrio parahaemolyticus due to AHPND-like symptoms occurring in marketable size shrimp. In the P. vannamei, histology revealed typical AHPND pathology, such as sloughing of undifferentiated cells in the hepatopancreatic tubule epithelium. Analysis using the IQ2000 AHPND/EMS Toxin 1 PCR test generated 218 bp and 432 bp amplicons confirmative of the toxin-producing strain of V. parahaemolyticus among shrimp sampled from 8 of 9 ponds. In the P. monodon, histology revealed massive sloughing of undifferentiated cells of the hepatopancreatic tubule epithelium in the absence of basophilic bacterial cells. PCR testing generated the 2 amplicons confirmatory for AHPND among shrimp sampled from 5 of 7 ponds. This study confirms the presence of AHPND in P. vannamei and P. monodon farmed in the Philippines and suggests that the disease can also impact late-stage juvenile shrimp.

pirABvp-Bearing Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio campbellii Pathogens Isolated from the Same AHPND-Affected Pond Possess Highly Similar Pathogenic Plasmids

“…(Zhang et al, 2012; FAO, 2013; De Schryver et al, 2014; Nunan et al, 2014; de la Pena et al, 2015; Lee et al, 2015). Actions to bring the disease to an end are in urgent need.…”

“…Outbreaks of AHPND have been reported in recent years in Asia (such as China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand) and Latin America (such as Mexico) (Gomez-Gil et al, 2014; Gomez-Jimenez et al, 2014; Kondo et al, 2014, 2015; Nunan et al, 2014; Yang et al, 2014; de la Pena et al, 2015; Lee et al, 2015; Soto-Rodriguez et al, 2015; Chonsin et al, 2016; Restrepo et al, 2016; Han et al, 2017). The disease has caused dramatic drops of shrimp production in affected areas, leading to an estimated loss of over $1 billion per year to the global shrimp farming industry (FAO, 2013).…”

Shewanella khirikhana sp. nov. – a shrimp pathogen isolated from a cultivation pond exhibiting early mortality syndrome

“…Briefly, outbreaks began in China around 2009 and spread to several countries in Asia (Thitamadee et al, 2016;Prachumwat et al, 2019) before reaching Mexico (Nunan et al, 2014) in 2013. More recently, outbreaks have been reported from the Philippines (De La Peña et al, 2015), Australia (World Organization for Animal Health, 2016) and the USA (Dhar et al, 2018). The AHPND component of EMS is the most severe bacterial disease so far reported for cultivated shrimp and has caused massive production losses since 2009.…”

PirVP genes causing AHPND identified in a new Vibrio species (Vibrio punensis) within the commensal Orientalis clade

“…This disease caused severe harm to the industry, resulting in significant economic loss to shrimp producers in China (2009), Vietnam (2010), Malaysia (2011), Thailand (2012), Mexico (2013) and Philippines (2015) 1,2 . The disease can affect both species of cultured penaeid shrimp, Penaeus monodon and Penaeus ( Litopenaeus ) vannamei .…”