Aquatic Animal Health and Environment Division (AAHED) of ICAR-CIBA conducted a six-day “Hands-on training on diagnostics and management of Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei (EHP) in shrimp” from 25 to 30 October 2021 to the shrimp farmers, consultants and stakeholders. Dr. K.P. Jithendran, Director, ICAR-CIBA, inaugurated the training programme on 25th October, and briefed about the importance of the training, as the Hepatopancreatic microsporidiosis (HPM) caused by EHP is the major disease causing economic losses in shrimp farming in the country. He added that thorough in-depth knowledge on the disease will helps in curtailing the disease to some extent. Dr. M. Poornima, Principal Scientist, AAHED, explained about the background of the training programme and introduced the various topics that will be covered during the training classes. The SICs and CIBA faculty members attended the inauguration of the training programme. Seven trainees from Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Rajasthan participated in the six days programmes. There were 24 sessions (13 theory and 11 practical classes) with elaborate discussions on the overview about the disease, clinical signs, transmission, pathogenesis, diagnostics, economic loss, management and control of the disease. The trainees were given hands on training on the diagnosis of the disease starting from microscopy to advanced molecular diagnostic methods. All the trainees actively participated and interacted very well with the faculty members. The valedictory session held on 30th October, 2021 afternoon and Dr. Bhaskaran Ravi Latha, Professor & Head, Department of Veterinary Parasitology, Madras Veterinary College, TANUVAS was the chief guest and delivered a special lecture about how parasites sustain in other hosts and about her work on ticks and importance of developing a lateral flow assay in diagnosis at farm level. Dr. K.P. Jithendran congratulated all the trainees and stressed the importance of rapid diagnosis of the disease which will prevent the production and economic loss to farmers. The chief guest Dr. Latha distributed the certificates to the trainees and Dr. S.K. Otta, Principal Scientist gave vote of thanks on the valedictory function. The training programme was coordinated by Dr. K.P. Jithendran, Dr. M. Poornima, Dr. P.K. Patil, Dr. S.K. Otta, Dr. P. Ezhil Praveena, Dr. R. Ananda Raja, Dr. Sujeet Kumar, Dr. T. Bhuvaneswari, Dr. R. Vidya and Shri T. Sathish Kumar, Scientists of AAHED. Dr. J.Joseph Sahaya Rajan and Shri Jagan Mohan Raj, Technical Officers of the division provided logistics and technical assistance.
