Integrated parasite management: path to sustainable control of fishborne trematodes in aquaculture

Fishborne zoonotic trematodes (FZT) are an emerging problem and there is now a consensus that, in addition to wild-caught fish, fish produced in aquaculture present a major food safety risk, especially in Southeast Asia where aquaculture is important economically. Current control programs target communities at risk through mass drug administration. However, we argue that treatment alone will not reduce the risk from eating infected fish and that sustainable effective control must adopt an integrated FZT control approach based on education, infrastructure improvements, and management practices that target critical control points in the aquaculture production cycle identified from a thorough understanding of FZT and host biology and epidemiology. We present recommendations for an integrated parasite management (IPM) program for aquaculture farms.