Vaccine could save US cattle industry $1 billion annually – FeedStrategy.com

A Louisiana State University (LSU) researcher has developed a new vaccine against bovine respiratory disease (BRD) and related illnesses that kill approximately 8 million calves each year and cost the U.S. cattle industry more than US$1 billion.

Most cattle producers now use a commercially available modified live BRD vaccine containing several live viruses (a cocktail) to protect their herds. Still, the diseases kill more than one out of every five calves.

Our vaccine is safer for calves and far more effective than the vaccine cocktail, said Shafiqul Chowdhury, a professor of veterinary medicine.

Chowdhury took bovine herpes virus type 1 (BHV-1) and genetically modified it to provide the protective proteins of other bovine respiratory viruses bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) type 1 and 2, and bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) to prevent bovine respiratory disease.

LSU Vice President of Research and Economic Development Robert Twilley said research that leads to new tools like Chowdhurys vaccine is one of the pillars of LSUs Scholarship First Agenda, which advances agriculture, biomedicine, coastal protection, defense and energy.

Global population growth and environmental changes mean we must increase the amount of food we produce, Twilley said. This LSU-developed vaccine will help protect the worlds food supply and improve outcomes for cattle producers in Louisiana and nationwide.

Chowdhury said the calf mortality rate in vaccinated animals is just one area where the current vaccine cocktail falls short.

The United States does not require marker or DIVA (differentiating infected from vaccinated animals) vaccines, which can be distinguished from the virulent field viruses. The current vaccine cocktail is not a DIVA/marker vaccine. Vaccine viruses can therefore circulate and be maintained in the cattle population. They may change over time and regain the ability to cause disease.

Cattle producers have also reported spontaneous abortions and bovine respiratory disease in vaccinated animals. Variants of the live vaccine viruses are thought to be the cause. The lack of markers in the vaccine cocktail makes it impossible to distinguish the vaccine viruses from the disease-causing viruses.

With Chowdhurys vaccine, there is no chance for the vaccine virus to spread and circulate in the cattle population, he said.

Chowdhurys vaccine offers other advantages:

Its cost-effective. It uses one virus, genetically engineered BHV-1, which grows well in cell culture. In the commercial cocktail vaccine, individual viruses are grown separately and then mixed. Each vaccine batch requires extensive quality control. BRSV, the virus, grows poorly in cell culture with a meager yield.

It does not cause abortion, a potential outcome among cows that reach adulthood after being given the commercial vaccine cocktail.

Chowdhury has applied for a patent for the vaccine, with the help of the Office of Innovation and Technology Commercialization, part of the LSU Office of Innovation and Ecosystem Development. Chowdhury has already been awarded several U.S. and international patents. He has several additional patents pending.

Dr. Chowdhurys vaccines could be a game changer for the cattle industry, and we couldnt be more excited to support this kind of groundbreaking research, Twilley said.

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Vaccine could save US cattle industry $1 billion annually - FeedStrategy.com