Stirling's fish disease inhibitor works

Stirling Products Ltd says it has developed an inhibitor for Loma Gill Disease, a parasite that plagues farmed salmon and trout.

Stirling's beta glucan product, ProVale, inhibits the impact of Loma Microsporidial Gill Disease - or Loma salmonae - a costly and untreatable disease in farmed fish.

Dr Nicole Guselle presented results of the study into the disease at the 2008 Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society (FHS-AFS).

"At this time there are no therapeutic agents or vaccines available for use as treatments for the microsporidian, Loma salmonae," she said in a statement.

"When comparing the use of current unlicensed products to the use of Provale as a preventative agent for this infection in rainbow trout, Provale proved more effective."

ProVale is a highly purified, safe and natural immune-stimulating bioactive extract for use as a livestock or pet animal feed supplement.

Already on sale for use with poultry and swine in North America, it works by boosting the immune system against various bacterial and viral diseases.

Stirling said in a statement it is holding several discussions related to licensing and distribution agreements for ProVale.

Project leader Dr David Speare said the study was an exciting opportunity to evaluate ProVale.

"We have known that the cell mediated immune response of fish is critical for them to defend against microsporidial diseases; having a treatment that augments the immune response is therefore a very logical commercial approach for disease control."

World aquaculture has been growing at a rate of 8.8% per annum and over 60 million tons are produced per annum, equivalent to over US$70 billion.

Salmon fish farming, although only accounting for approximately two per cent of the total aquaculture farming, still represents over 1.4 million tonnes of salmon worth $US5.4 billion, produced each year, Sterling said.

Loma disease is recognised as one of the most economically significant diseases in farmed Pacific and Chinook salmon.

The FHS conference was held in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada between 9th and 12th July.

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Stirling's fish disease inhibitor works