COMESA Regional SPS Section
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Kenya: New vaccine to reduce East Coast fever
| Mrs Priscilla | Feb-04-2010 [ Print | E-mail ] 
The high livestock mortality in East and Central Africa due to East Coast fever is set to reduce following a near breakthrough in the development of a recombinant (dead) vaccine.
The vaccine once developed will be used in the immunization of livestock against East Coast fever. According to Molecular Biology Scientist Roger Pelle working at the International Livestock Research Institute - ILRI in Nairobi, the new vaccine being developed has already shown a 30 per cent success in the management of East Coast Fever. In an interview, Pelle said farmers in Africa are spending in excess of US$ 10 for a single dose of live vaccines already on the market, a matter he says is draining the farmers' meager resources. "We intend to cut these losses in revenue and animals through the new technological development. We realize that already most farmers are poor and asking them to spend US$ 10 per dose in vaccinating their livestock is asking for too much from these farmers," he said during an interview by journalists drawn from the East African region, who were attending a training course on science reporting at ILRI. According to studies, East Coast fever is among the most fatal livestock diseases in Africa, causing an annual loss of 1.1 million cattle. It is estimated to cost African farmers in excess of US $168 million in losses. East Coast Fever affects cattle in Sudan, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda. Mortality can be up to 100 per cent, with deaths occurring around 18-30 days after the initial infection by ticks. At times according to researchers, cattle that are endemic and manage to survive tend to be carriers. East Coast fever is a disease of cattle caused by the protozoan parasite Theileria parva. Currently, farmers regularly spray or dip livestock in tick-killing chemicals that are both expensive to purchase and damaging to the environment. Pelle says researchers have identified two proteins that could be used in developing the vaccine. Working under the Biosciences Eastern and Central Africa - BECA an initiative of the New Partnership for Africa's Development - Nepad, the researchers are also involved in research on diseases affecting most of the indigenous crops thought to hold key to solving Africa's food security constraints. The project which is among those initiated under Nepad's Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program - CAADP is aimed at reducing poverty in Africa through increasing agricultural productivity by ensuring that African farmers adapt to new technologies of food production. A researcher, Dr Morag Ferguson of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture - IITA and housed at ILRI campus, said work is ongoing in dealing with the cassava virus which is devastating farmlands on the Eastern part of Africa beginning at the coastal town of Mombasa all the way down to Mozambique and South Africa. "There are fears that the cassava virus has also been cited in Uganda and this will be devastating given cassava is one of the major staple foods in Uganda and Africa," said Morag Ferguson who is leading the team of scientists on researching on Cassava. She said her team of experts is expected to develop a cassava variety that could well be resistant to the cassava virus. Source: Kenya Broadcasting Corporation
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