Anti-Photobacterium damselae IgY in the treatment of Rachycentron canadum

Photobacterium damselae subsp. piscicida (Phdp) is an important causal agent of septicaemia and pseudotuberculosis in the acute and chronic phases in marine fish, respectively. The method of immunisation and treatment of bacterial infections in fish is limited to active immunisation, with cellular bioenergetic demand to generate the humoral immune response. The use of antibiotics in water as a therapeutic agent results in residues in fish meat and in the final human consumer, favouring the development of microbial resistance. This study aimed to produce and purify polyclonal IgY antibodies extracted from chicken egg yolk specific to the bacterial proteins Phdp and their effects on the control of acute sepsis in experimentally infected Rachycentron canadum.