A Summer Mortality Outbreak of Lactococcosis by in a Raceway System Affecting Farmed Rainbow Trout () and Brook Trout ().

Lactococcosis is a fish disease of major concern in Mediterranean countries caused by . The most susceptible species is the rainbow trout (), suffering acute disease associated with elevated mortalities compared to other fish species. References reported that other salmonids are also susceptible to the disease, but no mortality outbreak has been described to date. The aim of this study was to present a mortality outbreak that occurred in brook trout () farmed in northwestern Italy during the summer of 2018. Fish exhibited clinical signs, such as exophthalmos, diffused hemorrhages localized in the ocular zone, hemorrhagic enteritis, and enlarged spleen. was isolated in all fish. Molecular and epidemiological characterization of the isolates, through Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE), confirmed the initial hypothesis of water as vehicle of infection favoring transmission between rainbow trout farmed in upstream compartments and brook trout located in downstream tanks. Moreover, several environmental conditions affected and promoted the outbreak, among them the high-water temperature, which probably induced a physiological stress in brook trout, being way above the optimal temperature for this species, increasing the susceptibility to infection.