Introduction of Yersinia ruckeri biotype 2 into Finnish fish farms

Number of enteric redmouth disease (ERM) outbreaks, caused by the bacterial fish pathogen Yersinia ruckeri, has increased considerably in Finnish fish farms since 2004. To evaluate if the Y. ruckeri isolates from the recent severe Finnish outbreaks represent a dominant strain and if they differ from older isolates, 44 Finnish isolates from 1986 to 2007 were characterised by biochemical tests, serotyping, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and outer membrane protein analysis. The Finnish isolates were also compared with isolates from nearby geographical regions (Denmark and Sweden) and with the reference strain NCTC 10476. The results showed that most of the new isolates (2005–2007) from the Archipelago Sea (northern Baltic Sea) in Southwest Finland belong to biotype 2, which had not been previously reported from Finland. PFGE analysis indicated that the new biotype 2 isolates were very similar to isolates from Denmark (pulsotype 35) and that they most likely do not originate from the biotype 1 isolates obtained from fresh water hatcheries in Finland. Our conclusion is that the Y. ruckeri biotype 2 strain was introduced to Finnish fish farms in the Archipelago Sea from elsewhere.