Development of a Piscirickettsia salmonis immersion challenge model to investigate the comparative susceptibility of three salmon species

Piscirickettsia salmonis, the aetiological agent of salmonid rickettsial septicaemia (SRS), is a global pathogen of wild and cultured marine salmonids. Here, we describe the development and application of a reproducible, standardized immersion challenge model to induce clinical SRS in juvenile pink (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha), Atlantic (Salmo salar) and sockeye salmon (O. nerka). Following a 1‐hr immersion in 10(5) colony‐forming units/ml, cumulative mortality in Atlantic salmon was 63.2% while mortality in sockeye salmon was 10%. Prevalence and levels of the bacterium in kidney prior to onset of mortality were lower in sockeye compared with Atlantic or pink salmon. The timing and magnitude of bacterial shedding were estimated from water samples collected during the exposure trials. Shedding was estimated to be 82‐fold higher in Atlantic salmon as compared to sockeye salmon and peaked in the Atlantic salmon trial at 36 d post‐immersion. These data suggest sockeye salmon are less susceptible to P. salmonis than Atlantic or pink salmon. Finally, skin lesions were observed on infected fish during all trials, often in the absence of detectable infection in kidney. As a result, we hypothesize that skin is the primary point of entry for P. salmonis during the immersion challenge.