In this study the qPCR experiments confirmed the up-regulation of hepicidin in D. labrax after infection with V. anguillarum and showed in addition to this, that the expression of hepcidin might be considered as an excellent marker of bacterial infections, since it was up-regulated in all examined tissues of V. anguillarum-infected fish but unaffected in Nodavirus-infected tissues. Here, HAMP is linked to bacterial infectious disease.