viii
occurred only occasionally and mostly in the distant past, we have condensed the
text. Nevertheless, this sixth edition will hopefully meet the needs of the readership.
As with all the preceding editions, it is emphasised that most of the information still
appertains to diseases of farmed, rather than wild, fi sh.
The scope of the book covers all of the bacterial taxa, which have at one time or
another been reported as fi sh pathogens. Of course, it is realised that some taxa are
merely secondary invaders of already damaged tissues, whereas others comprise
serious, primary pathogens. Shortcomings in the literature or gaps in the overall
understanding of the subject have been highlighted, sometimes with subtlety. As a
general comment, it is still apparent that little is known about anaerobic or microaerophilic pathogens – does this mean that they do not exist, or are scientists ignoring them? Also, it is mostly unclear whether organisms act by themselves or with
others to cause a disease manifestation. Uncultured pathogens have been recognised
in the form of Candidatus whereby the organisms may be visualised in pathological
material, but not grown in the laboratory. The cause of some diseases is uncertain,
although in the case of red mark syndrome/strawberry disease of rainbow trout,
there is serological and molecular evidence for the involvement of rickettsial-like
organisms, but which are still yet to be cultured. One wonders how many times the
presence of uncultured or diffi cult-to-culture organisms is masked by culturable
contaminants or secondary invaders. A fi nal comment is that the overwhelming bulk
of publications deal with diseases caused by single species of pathogen. Is this
really true in that disease is a pure culture phenomenon, or is science missing microbial consortia that could work synergistically, simultaneously or sequentially to
cause disease?
In preparing the text, we have sought both advice and material from colleagues.
We are especially grateful to the following for the supply of photographs:
Dr. J.W. Brunt
Dr. G. Dear
Dr. M. Crumlish
Professor H. Daskolov
Dr. T. Itano
Professor V. Jencic
Dr. D.-H. Kim
Professor C. Mothersill
Dr. A. Newaj-Fyzul
Dr. P. Orozova
Dr. N. Pieters
Dr. S.M. Sharifuzzaman
Professor J.F. Turnbull
Professor X.-H. Zhang
Stirling, UK
Brian Austin
Scotland, UK
Dawn A. Austin
2016
Preface
occurred only occasionally and mostly in the distant past, we have condensed the
text. Nevertheless, this sixth edition will hopefully meet the needs of the readership.
As with all the preceding editions, it is emphasised that most of the information still
appertains to diseases of farmed, rather than wild, fi sh.
The scope of the book covers all of the bacterial taxa, which have at one time or
another been reported as fi sh pathogens. Of course, it is realised that some taxa are
merely secondary invaders of already damaged tissues, whereas others comprise
serious, primary pathogens. Shortcomings in the literature or gaps in the overall
understanding of the subject have been highlighted, sometimes with subtlety. As a
general comment, it is still apparent that little is known about anaerobic or microaerophilic pathogens – does this mean that they do not exist, or are scientists ignoring them? Also, it is mostly unclear whether organisms act by themselves or with
others to cause a disease manifestation. Uncultured pathogens have been recognised
in the form of Candidatus whereby the organisms may be visualised in pathological
material, but not grown in the laboratory. The cause of some diseases is uncertain,
although in the case of red mark syndrome/strawberry disease of rainbow trout,
there is serological and molecular evidence for the involvement of rickettsial-like
organisms, but which are still yet to be cultured. One wonders how many times the
presence of uncultured or diffi cult-to-culture organisms is masked by culturable
contaminants or secondary invaders. A fi nal comment is that the overwhelming bulk
of publications deal with diseases caused by single species of pathogen. Is this
really true in that disease is a pure culture phenomenon, or is science missing microbial consortia that could work synergistically, simultaneously or sequentially to
cause disease?
In preparing the text, we have sought both advice and material from colleagues.
We are especially grateful to the following for the supply of photographs:
Dr. J.W. Brunt
Dr. G. Dear
Dr. M. Crumlish
Professor H. Daskolov
Dr. T. Itano
Professor V. Jencic
Dr. D.-H. Kim
Professor C. Mothersill
Dr. A. Newaj-Fyzul
Dr. P. Orozova
Dr. N. Pieters
Dr. S.M. Sharifuzzaman
Professor J.F. Turnbull
Professor X.-H. Zhang
Stirling, UK
Brian Austin
Scotland, UK
Dawn A. Austin
2016
Preface