Evidence of Bacterial Co-Infection in Endangered Yangtze Sturgeon (Acipenser dabryanus)

The Yangtze sturgeon (Acipenser dabryanus) is designated as critically endangered in the IUCN Red List and is a first-class protected species in China. During the summer of 2024, it suffered lethal disease outbreaks. Comprehensive pathological and microbiological analyses were conducted to clarify the etiology. Clinically, infected sturgeon exhibited systemic manifestations including cutaneous ulcers, hemorrhagic septicemia, and diffuse necrosis in liver, kidney and heart tissues. Histopathologically, infected sturgeon showed liver hepatocyte vacuolation/necrosis, renal glomerular atrophy, and cardiac epicardial thickening with lymphocyte/eosinophil infiltration; Gram staining revealed co-localized Gram-positive/negative bacteria in lesions, and TEM identified diverse bacterial morphotypes. Through isolation and molecular identification, four bacterial pathogens were characterized: Streptococcus iniae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Edwardsiella tarda, and Bacillus cereus. Bacterial load detection revealed the presence of these pathogens in lesion tissues. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing indicated multidrug resistance to florfenicol, tetracycline, and ampicillin (commonly used antibiotics in aquaculture), while high sensitivity to ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, and ciprofloxacin was observed. Thus, we infer that sustained high-temperature stress triggered bacterial co-infection is closely related to this large-scale death incident. This is the first evidence of polymicrobial infection in the Yangtze sturgeon, emphasizing the significance of shifting from a single-pathogen perspective to a multi-pathogen framework, and highlighting the urgency of implementing ecological prevention strategies for this species.