Augmented immune responses in pigs immunized with an inactivated porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus containing the deglycosylated glycoprotein 5 under field conditions

PURPOSE: Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) leads to major economic losses in the swine industry. Vaccination is the most effective method to control the disease by PRRSV. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, the efficacy of a glycoprotein (GP) 5-modified inactivated vaccine was investigated in pigs. The study was performed in three farms: farm A, which was porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS)-negative, farm B (PRRS-active), which showed clinical signs of PRRS but had not used vaccines, and farm C (PRRS-stable), which had a history of endemic PRRS over the past years, but showed no more clinical signs after periodic administration of modified live virus vaccine. RESULTS: The inactivated vaccine induced great enhancement in serum neutralizing antibody titer, which was sufficient to protect pigs from further infections of PRRSV in a farm where pre-existing virus was circulating. CONCLUSION: These results indicated that vaccination with the inactivated vaccine composed of viruses possessing deglycosylated GP5 would provide enhanced protection to pigs from farms suffering from endemic PRRSV.

Hepatitis E virus infections in humans and animals

Hepatitis E has traditionally been considered an endemic disease of developing countries. It generally spreads through contaminated water. However, seroprevalence studies have shown that hepatitis E virus (HEV) infections are not uncommon in industrialized countries. In addition, the number of autochthonous hepatitis E cases in these countries is increasing. Most HEV infections in developed countries can be traced to the ingestion of contaminated raw or undercooked pork meat or sausages. Several animal species, including pigs, are known reservoirs of HEV that transmit the virus to humans. HEVs are now recognized as an emerging zoonotic agent. In this review, we describe the general characteristics of HEVs isolated from humans and animals, the risk factors for human HEV infection, and the current status of human vaccine development.

Seroprevalence of hepatitis E virus in zoo animal species in Korea / 대한수의학회지

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) can infect not only human but also several animals. This study has been conducted to evaluate the comprehensive anti-HEV seroprevalence in zoo animals in Korea. Anti-HEV antibodies were identified in 14 of 64 zoo animal species. HEV antibodies were detected for the first time in Eurasian Lynx, Setland Pony, Fallow Deer, Ezo Sika, Formosa Deer, East Wapitis, Barasingha, Corriedale, American Bison, Guanacos, Reticulated Giraffe, and Saanen. These results indicate that the several zoo animal species were exposed to HEV.

A review of vaccine development and research for industry animals in Korea

Vaccination has proven to be the most cost-effective strategy for controlling a wide variety of infectious diseases in humans and animals. For the last decade, veterinary vaccines have been substantially developed and demonstrated their effectiveness against many diseases. Nevertheless, new vaccines are greatly demanded to effectively control newly- and re-emerging pathogens in livestock. However, development of veterinary vaccines is a challenging task, in part, due to a variety of pathogens, hosts, and the uniqueness of host-susceptibility to each pathogen. Therefore, novel concepts of vaccines should be explored to overcome the limitation of conventional vaccines. There have been greatly advanced in the completion of genomic sequencing of pathogens, the application of comparative genomic and transcriptome analysis. This would facilitate to open opportunities up to investigate a new generation of vaccines; recombinant subunit vaccine, virus-like particle, DNA vaccine, and vector-vehicle vaccine. Currently, such types of vaccines are being actively explored against various livestock diseases, affording numerous advantages over conventional vaccines, including ease of production, immunogenicity, safety, and multivalency in a single shot. In this articles, the authors present the current status of the development of veterinary vaccines at large as well as research activities conducted in Korea.

Development of a novel vaccine against canine parvovirus infection with a clinical isolate of the type 2b strain

PURPOSE: In spite of an extensive vaccination program, parvoviral infections still pose a major threat to the health of dogs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We isolated a novel canine parvovirus (CPV) strain from a dog with enteritis. Nucleotide and amino acid sequence analysis of the isolate showed that it is a novel type 2b CPV with asparagine at the 426th position and valine at the 555th position in VP2. To develop a vaccine against CPV infection, we passaged the isolate 4 times in A72 cells. RESULTS: The attenuated isolate conferred complete protection against lethal homologous CPV infection in dogs such that they did not develop any clinical symptoms, and their antibody titers against CPV were significantly high at 7-11 days post infection. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the virus isolate obtained after passaging can be developed as a novel vaccine against paroviral infection.

Development of monoclonal antibodies against the abnormal prion protein isoform (PrPres) associated with chronic wasting disease (CWD)

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) specific for the abnormal prion protein isoform (PrPres) are indispensable for diagnosing chronic wasting disease (CWD). In this study, eight mAbs were developed by immunizing PrP knockout mice with recombinant elk PrP and an immunogenic PrP peptide. The reactivity of the mAbs to recombinant PrP and the PrP peptide was measured, and their isotypes were subsequently determined. Among them, four mAbs (B85-05, B85-08, B85-12, and B77-75) were shown by Western blotting to recognize proteinase K-treated brain homogenate derived from an elk suffering from CWD.