Mes: Mayo 2019

Gastric dilation & Air sacculitis or “Bloat” in salmonids – Gross Pathology

Gastrointestinal Tract
by Carlos Sandoval
Chinook salmon with “Bloat”. Note the severe abdominal distention.

Bloat is a non-infectious condition of salmonids where the abdomen is abnormally distended by an enlarged, fluid-filled stomach. The wall of the enlarged stomach wall is thin and flaccid. Occasionally the swimbladder is also affected.   The condition is seen in salmonids reared in sea water and fed fishmeal-based pelleted rations. While it has been reported occasionally in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) members of the genus Oncorhynchus are more susceptible. These include Rainbow trout (O. mykiss), Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha), and Coho salmon (O....

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Proliferative Kidney Disease in Salmonids (PKD) – Gross Pathology

Kidney
by Hugh Ferguson
Rainbow trout with PKD. There is a marked hyperplasia of interstitium with the kidney thrown into bulbous ridges. The reddening is tge result of secondary yersinia infection.

Proliferative kidney disease (PKD) is an endoparasitic disease of salmonid fish caused by Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae (Myxozoa: Malacosporea).  This chronic, largely renal interstitial disease is caused by the extraporogonic but intracellular stages of the parasite, which cause a severe granulomatous host response. The severity of the disease is linked to water temperature, with roughly 15 degrees °C as the cut-off: below that temperature, lesions and clinical disease are minimal. Above that temperature, however, lesions can be severe and mortality high. Inevitably, global warming has resulted in...

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Cardiomyopathy syndrome (CMS) – Gross Pathology

Cardiovascular System
by Hugh Ferguson
Figure 2. Salmon with CMS. Necrosis in the atrium of this fish has been so severe that it has ruptured. Note that the ventricle appears normal, due only to the fact that the compact layer remains largely unaffected.

Cardiomyopathy syndrome (CMS), is a severe heart disease of Atlantic salmon.  This transmissible condition has been diagnosed in several countries, especially Norway, where it was first reported, but also Scotland, Ireland and the Faroes. It is causally linked to the Piscine Myocarditis Virus (PMCV), closely allied to the Totiviridae. Typically, CMS occurs in the biggest, fastest-growing fish that never go off their feed – indeed their stomach is usually full of pellets when they suddenly die! Brood stock are also susceptible. This disease has an...

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GIANT CELLS IN FISH

Multisystem
by Hugh Ferguson
Figure 1. Multiple giant cells in the peritoneal cavity of salmon, a response to vaccine, its bright red character apparent (arrows). Similar to so-called Splendore-Hoeppli reactions (asteroid bodies).

Multinucleated cells, often simply called giant cells, are found in a variety of situations in teleost fish. They are not uncommon in granulomatous inflammatory responses, such as bacterial kidney disease, proliferative kidney disease, or as a response to vaccine, and are a result of fusion of macrophages or epithelioid cells. They are also found in virus infections, so-called syncytial giant cells, in which a number of non-macrophage cells, such as hepatocytes, fuse together. But giant cells are also found in normal fish as osteoclasts. Although...

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