Shrimp farming is an extremely important sector in food production worldwide, considering that the biggest problem they face is disease outbreaks. Various infections are attributed to the genus Vibrio, which cause significant mortalities from the first days of cultivation, managing to eliminate up to 100% of the population. The strains responsible for transmitting this disease are those that encode the binary toxins Pir A and B. The objective of this study was to determine the presence of toxigenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus in white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) post-larvae collected in transport tanks from laboratories, using bacteriological, molecular and histopathological methods, achieving a mitigation of mortalities in the first days of culture in Mexico.
Detection of toxigenic V. parahaemolyticus was carried out using four processes. The last process was carried out in three phases (Fig. 1).
13 cases were obtained from six laboratories located in the states of Sonora and Sinaloa. Six were positive for toxigenic V. parahaemolyticus (Fig. 2).
The hepatopancreas is the organ most affected by V. parahaemolyticus, causing massive and acute cell detachments. With histological methods, the degree or phase of the lesion can be observed (Fig. 3).
It is concluded that white shrimp (L. vannamei) post-larvae are infected with the bacterium V. parahaemolyticus, in larval stages before they are entered into any culture system or have any contact with grow-out ponds.