There is no history of fish vaccination in the Philippines. However, the example of European fish health management in which vaccines figure prominently, convinced the industry that it had to act to prevent the escalation of what can only be called an epidemic. In economic terms, the scale of loss is enormous. 600 million fry are stocked in Lake Taal annually; 50% die in the first month. At 50 Philippine centavos/ fry, Php 150 million is lost in fry cost alone (approximately USD 4 million) in this one lake. Potential revenue loss is enormous.
Since Tilapia forms an integral part of the President’s Food Security Programme, such losses are particularly unpalatable. A programme to determine the cause of the losses and to develop a vaccine or vaccines against the causative organism(s) was established in June 1999. The results of this programme are discussed in this paper.