Efficacy of commercial transport media swabs for use in aquatic animal disease diagnosis

Posted on Jan 1 2019 by Sam Le Gallou

Investigate the appropriateness of commercially available transport media for pathogenic marine bacteria isolated from diseased fish.

Aquaculture production of marine fish has developed in Australia to be a major primary production sector. With intensification of fish comes the emergence of infectious disease. For years there has been a suspicion amongst aquatic diagnosticians that transport of samples taken from fish in cases of bacterial infection may be affected by the type of media used to transport the samples.

Key methodology:

Known bacterial pathogens will be placed in various transport media for variable times at variable temperatures.
Replicates of treatments will be undertaken to calculate the significance of the media effects on different species of bacteria.
If time permits, trials will be repeated on a specifically designed media for marine organisms.

Study pathobiology, infectious disease and public health

Get involved in research projects that aim to increase the understanding of disease agents and their effects, leading to the development of better diagnostic tools for their detection.

Projects are available in a broad range of areas, including Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumour disease and aquatic animal health, particularly farmed, ornamental and research fish populations.