Fairynuff
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High hopes for the "distemper" Equine
Editorial Fairness - 29.10.09
A new therapy by Sweden against a serious disease equine strangles the
A research team of the department of microbiology of SLU (Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet) Swedish has developed an innovative vaccine against strangles, a highly contagious disease caused by Streptococcus equi. According to the results of the study, published in Public Library of Science (PLoS) Pathogens, the vaccine based on recombinant DNA technology, has proved very effective and could prevent the development of vaccines for streptococcus infections in humans.
The strangles, also known as horse distemper, is a nightmare for any owner or breeder of horses, its symptoms include high fever and swollen lymph glands in the neck of the horse, which then turns into pimples with the final eruption. In some cases, the pimples become so great as to prevent the passage of air into the trachea of the horse, blocking breathing. In principle, the animals that contract the disease are cured and are immunized, but in more serious cases die. Treatment with antibiotics is often ineffective.
The cases of strangles causing serious economic damage to farmers. The teams must in fact be placed in quarantine for a whole year, since the horses can still spread the bacteria in the eight months of healing. The disease is present all over the world, each year there are hundreds of cases recorded in Sweden and over a thousand in the United Kingdom.
Up to now had not been developed a vaccine proven safe and effective. Current one, based on live bacteria, causes severe side effects and also ensures a very short period of immunity. The research team of SLU has now produced a vaccine made from pure proteins generated by recombinant DNA technology.
In testing the new vaccine, a combination of seven proteins of streptococcus, has proved extremely effective and has no serious side effects. Seven horses that had been injected with the vaccine were monitored for three weeks to detect the possible appearance of symptoms of strangles, in six out of seven cases showed a significant level of protection against the disease. All seven non-vaccinated horses are infected.
The research team - which was attended by scientists at SLU, the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, the Swedish company AB vaccine Intervacc of the Animal Health Trust and the UK - hopes to begin offering the new vaccine against strangles in times short. The positive results also leave the prospect of developing other protein-based vaccine against streptococcal infections in both animals and humans (infection can cause diseases such as tonsillitis and impetigo).
Professor Bengt Guss of SLU, who led the research, said: "It's a really exciting project that allows you to use the results of basic research into new applications, and knowledge gained to develop vaccines against other bacteria. And this is extremely important, given the increasing number of infectious diseases caused by bacteria resistant to antibiotics. "
(source cordis.europa.eu)
For more information:
PLoS Pathogens:
http://www.plospathogens.org/home.action
Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet:
http://www.slu.se/?id=580
Karolinska Institute:
http
High hopes for the "distemper" Equine
Editorial Fairness - 29.10.09
A new therapy by Sweden against a serious disease equine strangles the
A research team of the department of microbiology of SLU (Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet) Swedish has developed an innovative vaccine against strangles, a highly contagious disease caused by Streptococcus equi. According to the results of the study, published in Public Library of Science (PLoS) Pathogens, the vaccine based on recombinant DNA technology, has proved very effective and could prevent the development of vaccines for streptococcus infections in humans.
The strangles, also known as horse distemper, is a nightmare for any owner or breeder of horses, its symptoms include high fever and swollen lymph glands in the neck of the horse, which then turns into pimples with the final eruption. In some cases, the pimples become so great as to prevent the passage of air into the trachea of the horse, blocking breathing. In principle, the animals that contract the disease are cured and are immunized, but in more serious cases die. Treatment with antibiotics is often ineffective.
The cases of strangles causing serious economic damage to farmers. The teams must in fact be placed in quarantine for a whole year, since the horses can still spread the bacteria in the eight months of healing. The disease is present all over the world, each year there are hundreds of cases recorded in Sweden and over a thousand in the United Kingdom.
Up to now had not been developed a vaccine proven safe and effective. Current one, based on live bacteria, causes severe side effects and also ensures a very short period of immunity. The research team of SLU has now produced a vaccine made from pure proteins generated by recombinant DNA technology.
In testing the new vaccine, a combination of seven proteins of streptococcus, has proved extremely effective and has no serious side effects. Seven horses that had been injected with the vaccine were monitored for three weeks to detect the possible appearance of symptoms of strangles, in six out of seven cases showed a significant level of protection against the disease. All seven non-vaccinated horses are infected.
The research team - which was attended by scientists at SLU, the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, the Swedish company AB vaccine Intervacc of the Animal Health Trust and the UK - hopes to begin offering the new vaccine against strangles in times short. The positive results also leave the prospect of developing other protein-based vaccine against streptococcal infections in both animals and humans (infection can cause diseases such as tonsillitis and impetigo).
Professor Bengt Guss of SLU, who led the research, said: "It's a really exciting project that allows you to use the results of basic research into new applications, and knowledge gained to develop vaccines against other bacteria. And this is extremely important, given the increasing number of infectious diseases caused by bacteria resistant to antibiotics. "
(source cordis.europa.eu)
For more information:
PLoS Pathogens:
http://www.plospathogens.org/home.action
Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet:
http://www.slu.se/?id=580
Karolinska Institute:
http
