Prevalencia de las principales enfermedades infecciosas en el camarón blanco Penaeus vannamei cultivado en el Golfo de Nicoya, Costa Rica

Abstract

The largest number of shrimp farms in Costa Rica are located in the Pacific Coast’s Gulf of Nicoya. In recent years, these farms have been affected by various diseases that damage the overall health of cultured shrimp. The research objective was to determine the prevalence of the main diseases in 3 different areas of the Gulf of Nicoya (Costa Rica) where Penaeus vannamei specie is produced. From August to October 2013 and February to May 2014, 3 farms were sampled in the region of Nicoya, encoded as F1, F2 y F3; 30 organisms were collected to be analyzed according to climatological season. Diagnostic methodological procedures (clinical examinations, bacteriology of hemolymph, histology and molecular analysis for the viruses WSSV, IHHNV, TSV and YHV) were done on each organism to determine the distinctive clinical signs of the diseases. An average prevalence of 2.22% for IHHNV, 13.33% for NHP, 32.78% for epicommensals, 33.89% for vibriosis, 100% for gregarines and 0% for viruses WSSV, TSV and YHV was found. For F1 and only in summer, IHHNV had the lowest prevalence with 13.33%. Furthermore, in addition to gregarines, one of the highest prevalence was obtained in the F3 during winter. This particular finding corresponded to diseases associated to epicommensals with 63.33%. In addition, the relationship between the prevalence of diseases within sampling site and the presence of diseases taking into account specific site and sampling date was analyzed. There is not enough evidence to establish a clear dependence among variables evaluated.