Fish Diseases and Management

5.6.1.Zoonotic and OIE listed notifiable diseases

Zoonotic diseases are those that transmitted from animals to human beings. Among fish and shellfish diseases very few diseases are zoonotic in nature. None of the viral and fungal diseases of fish or shellfishes are reported to be zoonotic. However a few bacterial pathogens are of zoonotic importance. These include Mycobacterium marinum, Aeromonas hydrophila

OIE listed diseases of fish and shellfish

Office International des Epizooties (OIE) based in Paris was established in 1924 following the massive spread of rinderpest disease in Europe. In 2003, the International Office of Epizootics became the World Organisation for Animal health, but keeping its historical acronym OIE.

The OIE collects and analyses the latest scientific information on animal disease control. This information is then made available to the Member Countries to help them to improve the methods used to control and eradicate these diseases. Guidelines are prepared by the network of about 200 OIE Collaborating Centres and Reference Laboratories across the world.

Each Member Country undertakes to report the animal diseases that it detects on its territory. The OIE then disseminates the information to other countries, which can take necessary preventive action. This information also includes diseases transmissible to humans and intentional introduction of pathogens. Information is sent out immediately or periodically depending on the seriousness of the disease. This objective applies to disease occurrences both naturally occurring and deliberately caused.

Those diseases which are of grave potential and found to be spread among various nations and has high infectious characteristics (epizootic potential) are notified by OIE as diseases, the occurrence of which need to be reported by the nations to the OIE once they occur in their territory.

The list of notifiable diseases are classified by OIE belonging to different groups of animals and those infecting fish and shell fish are of importance to aquatic animal disease control programme.

Following are the list of notifiable diseases given by OIE as per different aquatic groups.