Development of Safe and Effective Recombinant Oral Vaccines in Livestock

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: There is a need for safe, effective and inexpensive vaccines for livestock that are easy to administer. We propose developing and testing recombinant vaccinia viruses as oral vaccines for livestock to meet this need.

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APPROACH: We plan to develop recombinant vaccinia virus vaccines that can be administered orally for control of diseases of livestock. This approach will result in vaccines that are inexpensive and easy to administer. They will also enable the control of diseases in wildlife in the event of an outbreak of a disease with a wildlife reservoir. Such vaccines could be of critical importance in the event of a bioterrorist attack on livestock
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PROGRESS: 2003/10 TO 2008/09<BR>
OUTPUTS: There is a need for safe, effective and inexpensive vaccines for livestock that are easy to administer. We propose developing and testing recombinant vaccinia viruses as oral vaccines for livestock to meet this need. <BR>
OBJECTIVES: 1. To develop oral recombinant vaccinia irus vaccines for diseases of livestock. 2. To test the immune and protective responses to recombinant vaccinia virus vaccines orally in livestock. APPROACH: We plan to develop recombinant vaccinia virus vaccines that can be administered orally for control of diseases of livestock. This approach will result in vaccines that are inexpensive and easy to administer. They will also enable the control of diseases in wildlife in the event of an outbreak of a disease with a wildlife reservoir. Such vaccines could be of critical importance in the event of a bioterrorist attack on livestock <BR>
PARTICIPANTS: Dr. Tilahun Yilma, Principal investigator. Dr. Paulo Verardi, Researcher Dr. Leslie Jones, Researcher Dr. Shabbir Ahmad, Researcher Fatema Aziz, graduate student Fang-Ching Lin, Graduate student Shirley Leung, Laboratory manager. Sandy Yan, Laboratory Technician. This project provided training for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. <BR>
TARGET AUDIENCES: Individuals and organizations interested in oral vaccines for livestock and control of endemic diseases in wildlife <BR>
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IMPACT: 2003/10 TO 2008/09<BR>

We have constructed and characterized the recombinant vaccinia virus vaccines for rinderpest and peste des petits ruminants based on the vaccinia virus strain used for the recombinant rabies vaccine currently in use in the United States and Europe. These recombinant vaccinia virus vaccines express the immunogenic rinderpest or peste des petits ruminants virus H and F genes from the thymidine kinase gene region of vaccinia virus, under the control of 2 back-to-back strong synthetic promoters that are active both in the early and late stages of infection. Due to the lack of funding, objective 2 has not been completed. We are currently seeking funding to test these vaccines as oral vaccines in livestock and wildlife in endemic areas.