Iranian Veterinary Journal

Iranian Veterinary Journal

Pathological, microbiologic and molecular investigation of granulomatous lesions in 10 species of ornamental fish in Ahvaz

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Maryam Hoseinpour hamoleh 1
Rahim Peyghan 2
Anahita Rezaie 3
masood Ghorbanpoor 4
1 PhD Graduate in Aquatic Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran
2 Professor, Department of Livestock Animal, Poultry and Fish Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran and Member of Excellence Center of Warm Water Fish Health, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran
3 Professor, Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran
4 Professor, Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran
10.22055/ivj.2024.423580.2647
Abstract
    In the present study thirty pieces of ten species of ornamental aquarium fish (Amazon molly fish, guppy, oscar, angel, zebra fish, macro, neon tetra, gold fish, tiger barb and gourami) that were moribund with symptoms of chronic disease (300 fish in total) were examined. Sampling was done from grossly positive organs (with granular lesions in viscera). In total, out of 300 examined samples, granulomatous lesions were observed in the intestine and viscera in 46 cases (12%). The most granulomatous lesions were observed in gourami, goldfish and neon tetra. No lesions were observed in guppy and zebra fish. The highest percentage of lesions was recorded in the spleen and liver, respectively. Also, the spleen was found to be the most infected organ of fish to tuberculosis lesions. Finally, using PCR method, 1 isolates were identified as Mycobacterium marinum, 3 isolate as Mycobacterium chelona and 3 isolates as Mycobacterium fortuitum. In this study, no infection to Ichthyophonus was detected. Based on the results of PCR with specific primers for Ichthyophonus hoferi, the presence of the specific gene for this organism was not proven in any of the samples. This study showed that fish tuberculosis infection exists in aquarium fish in Iran.
Keywords
Granulomatosis
Ornamental fish
Ahvaz
Mycobacterium
Ichthyophonus

Subjects

Beran, V., Havelkova, M., Kaustova, J., Dvorska, L., & Pavlik, I. (2006). Cell wall deficient forms of mycobacteria: a review. Veterinarni Medicina, 51(7), 365-389.
Cowman, S.A., James, P., Wilson, R., Cookson, W.O.C., Moffatt, M.F., & Loebinger, M.R. (2018). Profiling mycobacterial communities in pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacterial disease. PLoS One, 13(12), 8018-8019.
Delghandi MR, Waldner K, El-Matbouli M, Menanteau-Ledouble S. (2020). Identification Mycobacterium spp. in the Natural Water of Two Austrian Rivers. Microorganisms.; 8(9):1305.
Dodiuk-gad, R., Dyachenko, P., Ziv, M., Shani-adir, A., Oren, Y., Mendelovici, S., Shafer, J., Chazan, B., Raz, R., Keness, Y. & Rozenman, D. (2007). Nontuberculous mycobacterial infections of the skin: a retrospective study of 25 cases. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 57(3), 413-420.
Gharbi, R., Mhenni, B., Fraj, S.B., & Mardassi, H. (2019). Nontuberculous mycobacteria isolated from specimens of pulmonary tuberculosis suspects, Northern Tunisia: 2002–2016.
BMC Infectious Diseases, 19(1), 819-823.
Jafarizadeh, M., Peyghan, R. & Eftekhar Manavi, S. (2014). The detection of Ichthyophonus hoferi in naturally infected fresh water ornamental fishes. Journal of Aquaculture Research and Development, 5(7), 289-294.
Ko, J.S., Kim, S.K., Yong, D.E., Kimm, T. I., & Kim, E.K. (2017). Delayed onset Mycobacterium intracellular keratitis after laser in situ keratomileusis. Medicine, 96(51), 9356-9359.
Kušar, D., Zajc, U., Jenčič , V., Ocepek, M., Higgins, J., Žolnirdovč , M., & Pate, M. (2017). Mycobacteria in aquarium fish: results of a 3-year survey indicate caution required in handling pet-shop fish. Journal of Fish Diseases, 40(6), 773-784.
Napaumpaiporn, C., & Katchamart, W. (2019). Clinical manifestations and outcomes of musculoskeletal nontuberculous mycobacterial infections. Rheumatology International, 39(10), 1783-1787.
Park H., Jang H., Kim C., Chung B., Chang C. L., Park S. K. (2000). Detection and identification of mycobacteria by amplification of the internal transcribed spacer regions with genus- and species-specific PCR primers. Journal of Clinical Microbiology. 38, 4080–4085. 
Pate, M., Jenčič, V., Žolnir-dovč, M., & Ocepek, M. (2005). Detection of mycobacteria in aquarium fish in Slovenia by culture and molecular methods. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms, 64(1), 29-35.
Rallis, E., & Koumantaki-mathioudaki, E. (2007). Treatment of Mycobacterium marinum cutaneous infections. Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy, 8(17), 2965-2978.
Roca, F.J., Whitworth, L.J., Redmond, S., Jones, A.A., & Ramakrishnan, L. (2019). TNF induces pathogenic programmed macrophage necrosis in tuberculosis through a mitocondrial-lysosomal-endoplasmic reticulum circuit. Cell, 178, 1344–1361.
Seema, S. K. (2014). Aquarium Fish: Study on Mycobacterial Infection. Indian Journal of research, 3 (7): 215 – 216.
Silvaneto, J.P., Machado, K.N.C., & Roisman, L. (2019). Choroidal granuloma caused by Mycobacterium fortuitum. International Journal of Retina and Vitreous, 5(37), 185-188.  
Soler, G., Forrellat, M., & Romero, Y. (2018). Evasion of the immune system by
Mycobacterium tuberculosis: molecular mechanisms. Tecnología de la Salud, 9 (2), 190-199.
Santos, E. (2021). Detection of Mycobacterium sp. by multiplex PCR directly from suspicious granulomas from cold chambers in the state of Bahia, Brazil. Arquivos do Instituto Biologico. 88, 1-8.
Talaat, A.M., Reimschuessel, R., & Trucksis, M. (1997) Identification of mycobacteria infection fish to the species level using polymerase chain reaction and restriction enzyme analysis. Veterinary Microbiology, 58: 229-237
Telenti, A., Marchesi, F., Balz, M., Bally, F., Bottger, E., & Bodmer, T. (1993) Rapid identification of mycobacteria to the species level by polymerase chain reaction and restriction enzyme analysis. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 31, 175-178
Tortoli, E. (2009). Clinical manifestations of nontuberculous mycobacteria infections. Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 15(10), 906-910.
Uma, A., & Ronald, B. S. (2016). Drug resistance in Mycobacterium fortuitum isolated from gold fish, Carassius auratus. International Journal of Science and Environment, 5, 4411-4417.
Yacisin, K., Hsieh, J.L., Weiss, D., Ackelsberg, J., Lee, E., Jones, L., Leung, Y.L., Li, L., Yung, J., Slavinski, S., Hanson, H., Ridpath, A., Kornblum, J., Lin, Y., Robbe-austerman, S., Rakeman, J., Siemetzki-kapoor, U., Stuber, T., & Greene, S.K. (2017). Outbreak of non-tuberculous mycobacteria skin or soft tissue infections associated with handling fish – New York City, 2013–2014. Epidemiology and Infection, 145(11), 2269-2279.
Zanoni, R. G., Florio, D., Fioravanti, M. L., Rossi, M., & Prearo, M. (2008). Occurrence of Mycobacterium spp. in ornamental fish in Italy. Journal of fish diseases, 31(6), 433-441.
Whipps, C.M., Burton, T. & Watral, V.G. (2006) Assessing the accuracy of a polymerase chain reaction test for Ichthyophonus hoferi in Yukon River Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms. 68: 141–147.