3^rd International Conference on
Aquatic Animal Epidemiology (AquaEpi III)

About 3^rd International Conference on Aquatic Animal Epidemiology

Aquaculture has been one of the fastest growing food sectors in the world. However, diseases are the most significant constraint to the growth of aquaculture. Globally, huge economic losses have been reported due to diseases. In finfish aquaculture, the losses due to parasitic infestations were estimated to be about US$1.05 to 9.58 billion (Shinn et al. 2015). In the shrimp aquaculture sector in Asia, the annual losses were reported to be to the tune of US$4 billion during 2009–2018 (Shinn et al. 2018). Similarly, a recent study estimated annual losses due to shrimp diseases in India to be around US$ 1.02 billion (Patil et al. 2021).

Disease outbreaks are usually the end result of complex interactions involving environmental factors, health condition of the animals and presence of infectious agents. To have a thorough understanding of the factors involved in disease outbreaks, it is essential to follow aquatic system approach, which is possible through application of epidemiological principles. In this approach, the major emphasis is to determine if the disease is infectious or not and if infectious, then prevent transmission and spread. Over the last few decades, there have been a number of instances where the new diseases have spread across countries while the focus has been on identifying the causal agent. It is important to note that a number of risk factors determine and influence the frequency and distribution of disease in a population. The knowledge on risk factors can improve the ability of aquatic animal surveillance systems for early detection and rapid response to pathogens.