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Development of an improved (DIVA) vaccine against peste des petits ruminants and technology for a control strategy in endemic areas

 
Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) is a morbillivirus which causes disease in sheep and goats (shoats). Current live attenuated PPRV vaccines are effective but require a cold-chain for distribution and do not enable vaccinated animals to be distinguished from those which have recovered from disease. The purpose of the current project is to construct and test an alternative vaccine which promises to overcome these defects. The vaccine will be based on recombinant fowl poxviruses (rFPVs) expressing the surface glycoproteins of PPRV. These will be combined with other rFPVs expressing ovine cytokines in order to boost the immune response to the vaccine and to increase the chance that protection will be achieved with only a single dose of vaccine. The vaccine will be tested under controlled conditions at IAH and in native shoats in Uganda. In addition, new assays will be developed to assist in PPRV disease control programmes. A new diagnostic ELISA will be developed to complement the new vaccine, and which will enable infected animals to be distinguished from vaccinated animals. The project will be associated with a commercial partner in order to develop a pen-side test for PPRV, which can be used to rapidly check for PPRV infection in the field. We will work with our Ugandan partners to acquire data on the distribution of PPRV and other shoat diseases and to uplift their diagnostic capabilities.

IAH Principal Investigator: Dr Michael Baron

IAH Co-investigators: Dr. Chris Oura, Dr Geraldine Taylor

Overseas Collaborators:
Dr. Anna Rose Ademun Okurut, Diagnostics and Epidemiology Centre (DEC), Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, P.O. Box 513, Entebbe, Uganda
Dr. Chrisostom Ayebazibwe Diagnostics and Epidemiology Centre (DEC), Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, P.O. Box 513, Entebbe, Uganda

Project Partners:
Jenner Institute, University of Oxford
Svanova AB, Sweden
Susanne Grange, FAO Uganda
Keith Hamilton, OIE Paris.

Country involved: Uganda
Duration: 48 months
   

 
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