FIELD TESTING OF ADJUVANTED FURUNCULOSIS VACCINES IN ATLANTIC SALMON, SALMO-SALAR L

Two different commercial vaccines against furunculosis, caused by Aeromonas salmonicida subsp. salmonicida, were tested in Atlantic salmon on seven fish farms. Both vaccines were based on formalin-inactivated bacterins containing aluminium salts as adjuvants. The fish were vaccinated by intraperitoneal injection in the spring approximately one month prior to transfer to sea water, and they were challenged by natural outbreaks of furunculosis. During the first year, six of the farms experienced disease outbreaks. The overall mortality was 7.14% in vaccinated fish and 21.7% in unvaccinated controls, giving a relative percentage survival (RPS) of 67%. In the seventh farm, outbreaks of furunculosis more than one year after vaccination revealed that there was still a trend towards lower mortality in vaccinated fish, though the mean RPS fell to 22%. The use of adjuvants in the vaccines resulted in local lesions in the abdominal cavity of vaccinated fish. However, the severity of the lesions declined gradually, and they did not influence fish quality at the time of slaughtering. Vaccination also had a moderately adverse impact on fish weight gain in most cases.