Advances in Aquaculture Vaccines Against Fish Pathogens: Global Status and Current Trends

In recent years, aquaculture has attained a major economic revolution, however, infectious diseases of bacterial, viral, mycotic and parasitic origin are the most significant restrictive agents in the improvement of intensified aquaculture, which has become a fast blooming seafood industry. For environment-friendly aquaculture and human health concerns owing to the rise in incidences of antimicrobial resistant microbes and food safety hazards, the immunoprophylaxis or vaccination strategies are highly effective and economical in protecting the health of fish and aquaculture animals from various infectious agents. Advancements in science have paved newer avenues in both basic and applied research areas for developing and designing novel and effective vaccines, as well as improving existing vaccines for rendering protection from various types of infectious diseases. Current advances in vaccines and vaccinology offer valuable opportunities to discover new vaccine candidates to combat fish pathogens, including mycotic and parasitic agents, for which vaccines are still lacking. This review focuses on the current knowledge, recent advances and future perspectives of vaccines and vaccination in the aquaculture industry, from traditional inactivated and attenuated vaccines to new generation vaccines comprising of recombinant, subunit, vectored, genetically engineered, DNA and peptide vaccines, reverse vaccinology and plant-based edible vaccines, and nanovaccines.