Southern Monitoring Center for Aquaculture Environment and Epidemics

Address:    116 Nguyen Dinh Chieu, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City
Director:    Dr. Le Hong Phuoc
Telephone: (+84-8) 3823-4284
Fax:                       (+84-8) 3823-7051
Email:              lehongphuoc@yahoo.com

Function and Tasks:

– Studying epidemics, pathogenesis and causes of aquatic animal diseases; their prophylactics, treatments and health management in aquaculture;

– Studying water pollution related to aquaculture and treatment technologies;

– Carrying out monitoring, surveillance and warnings for the aquatic environment and disease outbreaks in aquaculture in southern Vietnam;

– Setting up a database on water quality and aquatic animal diseases, which can be used for managing, planning and developing aquaculture in southern Vietnam; and

– Providing training, consulting and laboratory services in disease diagnosis and water-quality testing as well as disease control, management and treatment.

Activities and main outputs:

– Routine monitoring, surveillance and warnings for water quality and common pathogens related to key cultured species in the Mekong Delta, namely White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) and Vibrio parahaemolyticus causing Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease (AHPND) in brackish water shrimp and Aeromonas hydrophila, Edwardsiella ictaluri and Salmonella sp. in striped catfish;

– Regular database updating on water quality and disease outbreaks affecting shrimp and fish cultured in southern Vietnam with reports to managers and local authorities;

– Developing protocols in molecular biology techniques and applying Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to detect pathogenic agents in aquatic animals. In fresh and brackish water shrimp, these include White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV), Taura Syndrome Virus (TSV), Yellow Head Virus (YHV), Gill Associated Virus (GAV), Infectious Hypodermal and Hematopoietic Necrosis Virus (IHHNV), Infectious Myonecrosis Virus (IMNV), Monodon Baculovirus (MBV), Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Necrotising Hepatopancreatitis (NHP), Laem-Singh Virus (LSNV), Enterocytozoon
– Hepatopenaei (EHP), Hepatopancreatic Parvovirus (HPV), Macrobrachium rosenbergii Nodavirus (MrNV) and Vibrio harveyi. In fish, pathogenic agents include Aeromonas hydrophila, Edwardsiella ictaluri, Salmonella sp, Viral Nervous Necrosis (VNN) and Spring Viraemia of Carp Virus (SCVC);

– Developing techniques to diagnose aquatic animals by histology, immunohistochemistry, isolation and identification of bacteria, and cell-line culture;

– Producing toolkits for quick testing for IHHNV, LSNV and WSSV in shrimp;

– Doing trials on probiotics, vaccines, herb extracts and medicines to prevent aquatic animal diseases;

– Developing cultured models to prevent white spot disease and acute hepatopancreatic necrosis in brackish water shrimp;

– Studying vaccines and immuno-stimulants for disease prophylactics in striped catfish farming;

– Applying medicinal herbs (such as Phyllanthus urinaria L) and other probiotics instead of antibiotics to prevent and treat shrimp and catfish diseases;

– Conducting testing experiments for newly introduced chemicals, drug and other products applied in control of aquatic animal diseases; and

– Providing local extension staff with training and services in water quality testing, PCR diagnosis techniques and consulting on disease prevention and treatments in cultured shrimp and fish.