Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part C: Toxicology & Pharmacology
Mycobacteriosis in zebrafish (Danio rerio) research facilities☆
Introduction
Mycobacteriosis is a common disease in wild and captive fishes (Chinabut, 1999). Mycobacterium infections are particularly common in ornamental marine and freshwater fishes (Noga, 2000). Bacterial species frequently associated with fish mycobacteriosis include M. marinum, M. chelonae, M. abscessus, and M. fortuitum (Chinabut, 1999).
There has been a dramatic increase in the use of small fishes in research, particularly zebrafish (Danio rerio). Fish mycobacteriosis, therefore, is now a concern to laboratory animal veterinarians and others responsible for these animals (Astrofsky et al., 2000, Sanders and Swaim, 2001). The Zebrafish International Resource Center (ZIRC) was established at the University of Oregon in 1998 to support researchers using zebrafish. As part of ZIRC, we offer a diagnostic service to the research community using histopathology as the primary diagnostic method. Since we began our diagnostic service in 1999, we have found that mycobacteriosis is a common infectious diseases in zebrafish research facilities. Astrofsky et al. (2000) reported mycobacteriosis in zebrafish obtained from two research colonies, in which M. fortuitum, M. chelonae and M. abscessus infections were identified. We describe here the clinical presentation and pathological changes associated with mycobacterial infections in cases from the ZIRC Diagnostic Service. We also provide identification of certain isolates based on phenotypic characters and DNA sequences.
Section snippets
Diagnostic service
The ZIRC diagnostic service is available for researchers using zebrafish (http://zfin.org/zirc/home/stckctr.php). Fish are submitted either live or preserved in Dietrich's fixative. Case information includes husbandry characteristics, fish strains, and clinical information. Case numbers were assigned for this manuscript by severity of disease (Table 1), and do not correspond to our diagnostic case numbers in the ZIRC database.
Histopathology
Fish were preserved in Dietrich's fixative, except for fish from case
Clinical disease
From 1999 through June 2003, we diagnosed mycobacteriosis in 24 of 133 (18%) of our diagnostic cases at 13 of 32 of the facilities that have submitted samples. Severity of disease ranged from massive outbreaks (in which mortalities ranged from greater than 20% to a severity in which the entire population was euthanized), to moderate outbreaks (in which mortality was less than 15%), to incidental findings (where mycobacteriosis was a secondary finding) (Table 1). Although several of the fish
Discussion
Most reports of mycobacteriosis in fishes are associated with infections by M. marinum, M. chelonae, or M. fortuitum (Chinabut, 1999, Descostere et al., 2004). However, several new species have recently been implicated as pathogens of fish (Herbst et al., 2001, Rhodes et al., 2003, Whipps et al., 2003). Astrofsky et al. (2000) found variable presentations associated with infections by M. chelonae, M. fortuitum and M. abscessus in zebrafish colonies. Interestingly, neither Astrofsky et al. (2000)
Acknowledgements
This study was supported in part by NIH grants 5R24RR017386-02 and P40 RR12546.
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This paper is based on a presentation given at the conference: Aquatic Animal Models of Human Disease hosted by the American Type Culture Collection and the University of Miami in Manassas, Virginia, USA, September 29–October 2, 2003.