bonamiosis (Bonamia ostreae)

Bonamia ostreae is a Haplosporidia protozoan parasite (Carnegie and Cochennec-Laureau, 2004) infecting haemocytes of flat oysters, Ostrea edulis, and inducing physiological disorders. Infection is often fatal depending on host and environmental conditions. In Europe, B. ostreae was first described in France (Pichot et al. 1980) as the causative agent of serious mortalities in this native species. Since then, it has been responsible for a drastic decrease in O. edulis production in different farming areas along the European Atlantic coast (reviewed by Carnegie and Cochennec-Laureau, 2004). It has also been detected in O. edulis populations on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America (Carnegie and Cochennec-Laureau, 2004; Marty et al. 2006).

Control of the disease relies on disease management practices and transfer restriction (Morga et al., 2012). Selective breeding programmes for resistance to bonamiosis have also been undertaken to counter this disease (Naciri-Graven et al., 1998; Bédier et al., 2002; Lynch et al., 2014).

Infection with Bonamia ostreae is on the list of diseases notifiable to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). For further information on this disease from OIE, see the website: www.oie.int

Infection with B. ostreae has been found in Europe (France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and the UK), Canada and the USA (Carnegie and Cochennec-Laureau, 2004).

Ostrea edulis is the only known natural susceptible species.