Development of a vaccine for contagious bovine pleuropneumonia

Project Team: Volker Gerdts, Jose-Perez Casal, Tracy Prysliak

Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP), also referred to as ‘lung plague’ is a highly contagious disease of cattle with a mortality rate of up to 50%. CBPP, causes significant economic losses particularly impactful to smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. It is classified as a foreign animal disease in the US and a reportable disease in Canada.

 Control of this disease relies on a live attenuated vaccine that has several challenges. To help develop a better vaccine VIDO partnered with the International Livestock Research Institute and the Kenyan Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization.

 The team used reverse vaccinology to develop a subunit vaccine to help prevent against CBPP. This vaccine demonstrated efficacy in preliminary cattle trials and is currently in additional field trials to support the vaccine’s development.

 VIDO is also working on process development to help in manufacturing scale-up with a goal to transfer the process to our partners in Africa to ensure local area production.