Potential use of vaccines based on cell-wall-defective or -deficient (L-form) Aeromonas salmonicida for the control of furunculosis

Abstract In laboratory-based experiments with Atlantic salmon Salmo salar and rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, the efficacy of vaccines composed of forms of Aeromonas salmonicida that have defective or deficient cell walls (L-forms) was compared with the efficacy of vaccines of formalin-inactivated whole cells grown in standard or in iron-limiting conditions. LysozymeEDTA-induced L-form preparations conferred more protection than did inactivated whole cells or benzylpenicillin-induced L-forms after challenge with two virulent cultures of A. salmonicida