EHP and EMS Cases on the Rise in Southeast Asian Shrimp Farms

Speedy Assay Editorial News
EHP and EMS Cases on the Rise in Southeast Asian Shrimp Farms

The Southeast Asia’s shrimp industry may suffer from Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei (EHP) and Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS) cases, which increased from 2017 to 2019 due to accumulation of the pathogens in the hatchery system.

It was found that EHP and EMS were only present in 4% and 8% of post-larvae samples respectively, in 2018. However, their numbers have greatly increased in 2019, with at least 10% of the post-larvae samples having either EMS or EHP.

This could mean that the pathogens are able to thrive and reproduce in the shrimps, which may be due to a suitable environment. To make matters worse, early exposure to EHP also causes the shrimps to be susceptible to White Feces Disease (WFC), which can lead to lower productivity and slow growth. WFC is also the current biggest problem in Asian shrimp farms, especially in Malaysia and Thailand.

The presence of EHP and EMS cases can negatively impact the livelihood of shrimp farmers. This is because EHP causes slow growth in shrimps, whereas EMS causes up to 100% mortality in shrimps. This would lead to lower yield of shrimps, resulting in these individuals suffering heavy losses.

Increase in these diseases cases among shrimps would also force the shrimp farming industry to reduce the price due to the negative impact of the diseases on the shrimps as mentioned earlier. This could lead to an increase in losses rather than profit.

We at Speedy Assay hope that the ShrimpCheck EHP kits are able to reduce the damages and losses on the shrimps as well as the shrimp farming industry caused by the infectious disease not only in Southeast Asia, but globally as well. We aim to provide shrimp disease detection kits that would play a part in stopping infectious diseases among shrimps as prevention is always better than the cure.

To learn more about Speedy Assay’s ShrimpCheck EHP PCR and Real-time PCR kit, please click here.

References:

  1. EMS, EHP cases 'have doubled or tripled' at Southeast Asian shrimp hatcheries in 2019. Accessed 6th January 2020.
  2. The Fish Site. Enterocytozoon Hepatopenaei (EHP). Accessed 6th January 2020.
  3. VIV online. Prevention and treatment of White Feces Disease (WFD) in shrimp. Accessed 6th January 2020. Pubmed NCBI. De Schryver, P., Defoirdt, T., & Sorgeloos, P. (2014). Early mortality syndrome outbreaks: A microbial management issue in shrimp farming?. PLoS pathogens, 10(4), e1003919. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1003919.