Early detection of Vibrio anguillarum in waters: a challenge experience on Dicentrarchus labrax in microcosm.

Rapid methods for the detection of bacterial pathogens are needed to prevent pathologies. Particular interest covers the early detection and diagnosis of vibriosis, one of the major fish farming disease in the Mediterranean Sea. By means discrimination of living and dead fraction of the bacterial population we estimate both viable and total bacterial density in microcosm; moreover we tested indirect immunofluorescence antibody technique (IFAT) as sensitive detection of Listonella (Vibrio) anguillarum during challenge.