Antimicrobial susceptibility testing guidelines as a necessary tool to guide chemotherapeutic interventions in aquaculture

Theselectionof chemotherapy inaquatic animalmedicine is not as straightforward as one might believe. A multitude of factorscan impacteffectiveness insitu. Someof these factors include the pathogen(s) present and their antimicrobial susceptibility, site(s) of infection, timing of treatment, host health/disease status, dose and regimen, water salinity, and water temperature. This article will focus on the first of these factors, and how susceptibility testing of target pathogen(s) can be used to both inform therapy decisions and assist in compliance with principles of prudent and judicious use.