Phytobiotics and Their Antibacterial Activity Against Major Fish Pathogens. A Review

Abstract

Abstract This review focuses on the characteristic of major fish bacteria, antimicrobial resistance and antibiotic substitution in aquaculture. Nowadays aquaculture represents the fastest growing industry leading to the use of intensive and semi-intensive methods resulting in outbreaks of bacterial diseases. Antibiotics are used to treat and prevent these bacterial diseases, which can cause an increase in resistance. Many antibiotics applied in aquaculture were originally used in human medicine and many countries do not have strict limits for their application. Annually, more than 700 000 people worldwide die from bacterial infections caused by bacteria resistant to antibiotics and even though European countries have strict rules for the use of antibiotics, the death rate resulting from resistance represents more than 33 000 people per year. One of the options how to resolve this problem is the replacement of antibiotics with bioactive compounds of plant origin that exhibit strong inhibitory activity against pathogenic bacteria.