Vaccine development in horses involves the creation and refinement of immunizations to protect equine populations from infectious diseases. This process includes identifying antigens, formulating vaccines, and evaluating their safety and efficacy through clinical trials. Vaccines stimulate the horse's immune system to recognize and combat specific pathogens, thereby reducing the incidence and severity of diseases. Common equine vaccines target diseases such as equine influenza, tetanus, and West Nile virus. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the methodologies, challenges, and advancements in vaccine development for equine health.
Neustroev MP, Petrova SG.An inactivated vaccine based on the BN-12 strain with the TNP-3 strain filtrate used as immunomodulator has been developed in order to prevent salmonella-induced equine abortion. Preclinical and clinical trials with the white mice and the horses, respectively, are carried out. The lack of toxicity is proven. The vaccine immunogenicity for mouse and mare models comprised 90 and 100%, respectively. The industrial vaccine tests showed that the industrial output of foals increased by 13.8% after immunization. Cost-effectiveness of the vaccine used with the TNP-3 strain filtrate comprised 14.1 r...
Wernery U, Rodriguez M, Raghavan R, Syriac G, Miriam Thomas M S, Elizabeth SK, Federico Ronchi G, Muhammed R, Patteril NA, Joseph S.African horse sickness (AHS) is a devastating viral disease of equids that was first recorded in 1327. Currently, prevention and control of the disease are based on attenuated vaccines and midge control. It has been shown that attenuated Orbivirus vaccines are not always safe as they may reverse to virulence. Objective: In the Emirate of Dubai, a vaccination experiment was carried out with an inactivated AHS vaccine produced at the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL), Dubai, UAE to investigate the humoral antibody response of AHS-naïve horses to this vaccine. Our vaccination experim...
Cohen ND, Cywes-Bentley C, Kahn SM, Bordin AI, Bray JM, Wehmeyer SG, Pier GB.Strangles is a common disease of horses with worldwide distribution caused by the bacterium Streptococcus equi subspecies equi (SEE). Although vaccines against strangles are available commercially, these products have limitations in safety and efficacy. The microbial surface antigen β 1→6 poly-N-acetylglucosamine (PNAG) is expressed by SEE. Here we show that intramuscular (IM) injection alone or a combination of IM plus intranasal (IN) immunization generated antibodies to PNAG that functioned to deposit complement and mediate opsonophagocytic killing of SEE ex vivo. However, immunization st...
Tapia D, Sanchez-Villamil JI, Torres AG.Burkholderia mallei (Bm) is a facultative intracellular pathogen and the etiological agent of glanders, a highly infectious zoonotic disease occurring in equines and humans. The intrinsic resistance to antibiotics, lack of specific therapy, high mortality, and history as a biothreat agent, prompt the need of a safe and effective vaccine. However, the limited knowledge of protective Bm-specific antigens has hampered the development of a vaccine. Further, the use of antigen-delivery systems that enhance antigen immunogenicity and elicit robust antigen-specific immune responses has been limited a...
van Rijn PA, Maris-Veldhuis MA, Grobler M, Wright IM, Erasmus BJ, Maartens LH, Potgieter CA.African horse sickness virus (AHSV) is a virus species in the genus Orbivirus of the family Reoviridae causing African Horse Sickness (AHS) in equids with a mortality of about 95% in naïve horses. AHS causes serious losses in developing countries where horses play a central role in draft power and transportation. There are nine AHSV serotypes inducing no or low cross-neutralizing antibodies. AHSV is spread by biting Culicoides midges. AHS is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa, and a serious threat outside Africa, since Culicoides species in moderate climate conditions are spreading the closely rel...
Rossi SL, Russell-Lodrigue KE, Plante KS, Bergren NA, Gorchakov R, Roy CJ, Weaver SC.Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) is a re-emerging virus of human, agriculture, and bioweapon threat importance. No FDA-approved treatment is available to combat Venezuelan equine encephalitis in humans, prompting the need to create a vaccine that is safe, efficacious, and cannot be replicated in the mosquito vector. Here we describe the use of a serotype ID VEEV (ZPC-738) vaccine with an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) to alter gene expression patterns. This ZPC/IRES vaccine was genetically engineered in two ways based on the position of the IRES insertion to create a vaccine th...
Ohta M, Bannai H, Nemoto M, Kambayashi Y, Tamura N, Tsujimura K.An inactivated equine influenza virus (EIV) vaccine and a live equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) vaccine are usually administered concurrently to Thoroughbred racehorses in Japan. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether concurrent administration of an inactivated EIV vaccine and a live EHV-1 vaccine in Thoroughbred racehorses influences the antibody response against EIV. We compared the antibody response against EIV in horses administered both vaccines on the same day (Group A; n = 27) and the response in horses administered an inactivated EIV vaccine first and then a live EHV-1 v...
Kim HH, Yang DK, Ji M, Lee SK, Hyun BH.Japanese encephalitis is one of the most important mosquito-borne and zoonotic diseases in Asia and the Pacific region. Although the dominant Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) genotype has shifted from G3 to G1 in Korea since 1990, a G3 strain (Anyang 300) has been used in vaccines for horses for almost 40 years. This study aimed to investigate the seroconversion rates and geometric mean titers (GMTs) of virus-neutralizing antibodies (VNAs) against JEV G1 and G3 in horses immunized with the G3 vaccine. Methods: Serum samples of 1,231 horses immunized with the Anyang 300 vaccine were collected ...
Mahmoud MS, Kandil OM, Abu El-Ezz NT, Hendawy SHM, Elsawy BSM, Knowles DP, Bastos RG, Kappmeyer LS, Laughery JM, Alzan HF, Suarez CE.The tick-borne intra-erythrocytic apicomplexan Babesia caballi is one of the etiological agents of equine babesiosis, an economically important disease of equids in most tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Discovering candidate antigens for improved diagnostic tools and vaccines remains needed for controlling equine babesiosis. This study describes the B. caballi sbp4 (Bcsbp4) gene and protein (BcSBP4) and analyzes its antigenicity in infected equids. Methods: BLAST searches of an uncurated B. caballi assembly genome using the B. bovis SBP4 as a query were carried out, followed by PCR...
Paillot R, Regourd E, Behr-Gross ME.Equine influenza (EI) is an important respiratory disease of horses, with welfare and economic consequences. Vaccination remains one of the most efficient prevention methods available. Equine influenza virus (EIV) is constantly evolving and consequently EI vaccines need to be updated on a regular basis. In 2010, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Expert Surveillance Panel (ESP) on EI provided a new recommendation for EI vaccine strain composition, including the incorporation of representative EIV strains of both Florida Clade 1 and Clade 2 sub-lineages (FC1 and FC2, respectively). ...
Entenfellner J, Gahan J, Garvey M, Walsh C, Venner M, Cullinane A.The international governing body of equestrian sports requires that horses be vaccinated against equine influenza within 6 months and 21 days of competing. The aim of this study was to compare the antibody response of young sport horses to six-monthly booster vaccination with equine influenza vaccines of different formulations. An inactivated vaccine was allocated to 35 horses and subunit and recombinant vaccines were allocated to 34 horses each. After vaccination, all horses were monitored for evidence of adverse reactions. Whole blood samples were collected at the time of vaccination and on ...
Ma H, Lundy JD, Cottle EL, O'Malley KJ, Trichel AM, Klimstra WB, Hartman AL, Reed DS, Teichert T.Alphaviruses such as Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) and Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) are arboviruses that can cause severe zoonotic disease in humans. Both VEEV and EEEV are highly infectious when aerosolized and can be used as biological weapons. Vaccines and therapeutics are urgently needed, but efficacy determination requires animal models. The cynomolgus macaque (Macaca fascicularis) provides a relevant model of human disease, but questions remain whether vaccines or therapeutics can mitigate CNS infection or disease in this model. The documentation of alphavirus e...
Dominguez-Medina CC, Rash NL, Robillard S, Robinson C, Efstratiou A, Broughton K, Parkhill J, Holden MTG, Lopez-Alvarez MR, Paillot R, Waller AS.Bacterial superantigens (sAgs) are powerful activators of the immune response that trigger unspecific T cell responses accompanied by the release of proinflammatory cytokines. () and () produce sAgs that play an important role in their ability to cause disease. Strangles, caused by , is one of the most common infectious diseases of horses worldwide. Here, we report the identification of a new sAg of , SpeS, and show that mutation of the putative T cell receptor (TCR)-binding motif (YAY to IAY) abrogated TCR-binding, whilst maintaining interaction with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) c...
Salat J, Ruzek D.Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), a disease caused by tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), represents a serious neural infection of humans in Europe and Asia. The main reservoir hosts of TBEV are ticks, rodents and insectivores, but domestic animals may also be infected with the virus. This review summarizes what is known about TBE in domestic species (e.g., dogs, horses), in which infection may manifest with clinical signs similar to those seen in severe human cases. We also focus on TBE in ruminants where TBE infections are typically asymptomatic and do not cause health problems in the infecte...
Fehér O, Bakonyi T, Barna M, Nagy A, Takács M, Szenci O, Joó K, Sárdi S, Korbacska-Kutasi O.In the last decade in Hungary and the neighbouring countries, West Nile Neuroinvasive Disease (WNND) has been caused in dramatically increasing numbers by lineage 2 West Nile Virus (WNV) strains both in horses and in humans. The disease in this geographical region is seasonal, so vaccination of horses should be carefully scheduled to maintain the highest antibody titres during outbreak periods. The objective of this study was to characterise the serum neutralising (SN) antibody titres against a lineage 2 WNV strain in response to vaccination with an inactivated lineage 1 vaccine (Equip® WNV)....
Lin Y, Wang XF, Wang Y, Du C, Ren H, Liu C, Zhu D, Chen J, Na L, Liu D, Yang Z, Wang X.Lentiviruses harbour high genetic variability for efficient evasion from host immunity. An attenuated equine infectious anaemia (EIA) vaccine was developed decades ago in China and presented remarkably robust protection against EIA. The vaccine was recently proven to have high genomic diversity, particular in . However, how and to what extent the high diversity relates to immune protection remains unclear. In this study, we compared immune protections and responses of three groups of horses stimulated by the high-diversity vaccine EIAV_HD, a single molecular clone of the vaccine EIAV_LD with ...
Khusro A, Aarti C, Pliego AB, Cipriano-Salazar M.Hendra virus (HeV) is a zoonotic paramyxovirus which causes acute and deadly infection in horses (Equus caballus). It is a rare and unmanaged emerging viral infection in horses which is harbored by bats of the genus Pteropus (Australian flying foxes or fruit bats). The virus is pleomorphic in shape and its genome contains nonsegmented negative-stranded RNA with 18234 nucleotides in length. The virus is transmitted from flying foxes to horses, horse to horse, and horse to humans. Human-to-human transmission of HeV infection is not reported yet. The infection of HeV in horses is highly variable ...
Onen EA.The aim of this study was to evaluate formalin-inactivated autovaccination to treat cutaneous papillomatosis and to perform molecular typing of the papillomavirus in four horses (two foals, one 3-year-old filly and a 5-year-old stallion). Methods: Histopathological slides of lesions were prepared and stained with haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) to establish a diagnosis that was based on observation koilocytosis, which is a pathognomonic cytopathic change that is associated with papillomatosis, using light microscopy. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and DNA sequencing were performed using the ...
Jonsdottir S, Fettelschoss V, Olomski F, Talker SC, Mirkovitch J, Rhiner T, Birkmann K, Thoms F, Wagner B, Bachmann MF, Kündig TM, Marti E....： Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) is an eosinophilic allergic dermatitis of horses caused by type I/IVb reactions against mainly bites. The vaccination of IBH-affected horses with equine IL-5 coupled to the Cucumber mosaic virus-like particle (eIL-5-CuMV) induces IL-5-specific auto-antibodies, resulting in a significant reduction in eosinophil levels in blood and clinical signs. the preclinical and clinical safety of the eIL-5-CuMV vaccine. The B cell responses were assessed by longitudinal measurement of IL-5- and CuMV-specific IgG in the serum and plasma of vaccinated and unvaccinate...
Salco R, Bowers J, Hernandez V, Barnum S, Pusterla N.This study aimed to determine if the administration of a modified live equine influenza virus vaccine (FluAvert) to foals would positively impact their health and reduce colonization of their upper airways with equine herpesviruses (EHV) during the weaning period. A single dose of FluAvert was given to 20 healthy foals 7 days prior to being weaned; 20 healthy foals served as unvaccinated controls. Nasal secretions and blood were collected before vaccination, the day of weaning, and weekly thereafter for 3 weeks. Nasal secretions were tested by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) for ...
Castro ER, Perez R, Rodriguez S, Bassetti L, Negro R, Vidal R.Equine influenza is one of the major respiratory infectious diseases in horses. In 2018, equine influenza virus (EIV) was confirmed as the cause of outbreaks of respiratory disease in horses in Chile and Argentina. In the same year, for the first time in Uruguay, EIV infection was confirmed by isolation and molecular analysis to be the cause of respiratory disease among hundreds of clinically affected thoroughbred horses in training and racing facilities. The virus was detected in nasopharyngeal swabs by a pan-reactive influenza type A realtime reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (...
Teymournejad O, Lin M, Bekebrede H, Kamr A, Toribio RE, Arroyo LG, Baird JD, Rikihisa Y.Potomac horse fever (PHF), a severe and frequently fatal febrile diarrheal disease, has been known to be caused only by , an endosymbiont of digenean trematodes. Here, we report the cell culture isolation of a new species found in two locations in eastern Ontario, Canada, in 2016 and 2017 (in addition to 10 variable strains of ) from PCR-negative horses with clinical signs of PHF. Gene sequences of 16S rRNA and the major surface antigen P51 of this new species were distinct from those of all previously characterized strains and species, except for those from an uncharacterized species cu...
Olomski F, Fettelschoss V, Jonsdottir S, Birkmann K, Thoms F, Marti E, Bachmann MF, Kündig TM, Fettelschoss-Gabriel A.Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) is the most common seasonal pruritic allergic dermatitis of horses occurring upon insect bites. In recent years, a major role for IL-31 in allergic pruritus of humans, monkeys, dogs, and mice was acknowledged. Here, we investigate the role of IL-31 in IBH of horses and developed a therapeutic vaccine against equine IL-31 (eIL-31). IL-31 levels were quantified in allergen-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and skin punch biopsies of IBH lesions and healthy skin from IBH-affected and healthy horses. The vaccine consisted of eIL-31 covalently ...
Khusro A, Aarti C, Rivas-Caceres RR, Barbabosa-Pliego A.Equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) is one of the most common and ubiquitous viral pathogens infecting equines, particularly horses worldwide. The EHV-1 is known to induce not only humoral but also cellular immune responses in horses. Respiratory distress, abortion in pregnant mares, neurological disorders, and neonatal foal deaths represent EHV-1 infection. Despite the limited success of inactivated, subunit, live, and DNA vaccines, over the past few decades, vaccination remains the prime preventive option to combat EHV-1 infection in horses. However, current vaccines lack the potentiality to protec...
Wu F, Zhang S, Zhang Y, Mo R, Yan F, Wang H, Wong G, Chi H, Wang T, Feng N, Gao Y, Xia X, Zhao Y, Yang S.Ebola virus infections lead to severe hemorrhagic fevers in humans and nonhuman primates; and human fatality rates are as high as 67%-90%. Since the Ebola virus was discovered in 1976, the only available treatments have been medical support or the emergency administration of experimental drugs. The absence of licensed vaccines and drugs against the Ebola virus impedes the prevention of viral infection. In this study, we generated recombinant baculoviruses (rBV) expressing the Sudan virus (SUDV) matrix structural protein (VP40) (rBV-VP40-VP40) or the SUDV glycoprotein (GP) (rBV-GP-GP), and SUDV...
Rutkowska DA, Mokoena NB, Tsekoa TL, Dibakwane VS, O'Kennedy MM.African horse sickness (AHS) is a severe arthropod-borne viral disease of equids, with a mortality rate of up to 95% in susceptible naïve horses. Due to safety concerns with the current live, attenuated AHS vaccine, alternate safe and effective vaccination strategies such as virus-like particles (VLPs) are being investigated. Transient plant-based expression systems are a rapid and highly scalable means of producing such African horse sickness virus (AHSV) VLPs for vaccine purposes. Results: In this study, we demonstrated that transient co-expression of the four AHSV capsid proteins in agroin...
Pan X, Wu Y, Wang W, Zhang L, Xiao G.Argentine haemorrhagic fever (AHF) is a rodent-borne disease with a lethality as high as ~30%, which is caused by the New World arenavirus, Junín virus (JUNV). It was once a major epidemic in South America and puts millions of people in Argentina at risk. Here, we aimed to develop horse antibodies or antibody fragments against JUNV. Before preparing the horse antibodies, a strategy to efficiently generate horse antisera was established based on comparisons among immunogens and immunization methods in both mice and horses. Antisera against JUNV were finally obtained by vaccinating horses with ...
Cook SJ, Li G, Zheng Y, Willand ZA, Issel CJ, Cook RF.Although the equine lentivirus (equine infectious anemia virus [EIAV]) poses a major threat to equid populations throughout most regions of the world, detailed knowledge concerning its molecular epidemiology is still in its infancy. Such information is important because the few studies conducted to date suggest there is extensive genetic variation between viral isolates that if confirmed has significant implications for future vaccine design and development of newer diagnostic procedures. Here, we avoid potential assembly artifacts inherent in composite sequencing techniques by using long-rang...
Marín-López A, Barreiro-Piñeiro N, Utrilla-Trigo S, Barriales D, Benavente J, Nogales A, Martínez-Costas J, Ortego J, Calvo-Pinilla E.African horse sickness virus (AHSV) is an insect-borne pathogen that causes acute disease in horses and other equids. In an effort to improve the safety of currently available vaccines and to acquire new knowledge about the determinants of AHSV immunogenicity, new generation vaccines are being developed. In this work we have generated and tested a novel immunization approach comprised of nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) of AHSV serotype 4 (AHSV-4) incorporated into avian reovirus muNS protein microspheres (MS-NS1) and/or expressed using recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara vector (MVA-NS1)....
Tapia D, Sanchez-Villamil JI, Torres AG.Burkholderia mallei (Bm) is a facultative intracellular pathogen and the etiological agent of glanders, a highly infectious zoonotic disease occurring in equines and humans. The intrinsic resistance to antibiotics, lack of specific therapy, high mortality, and history as a biothreat agent, prompt the need of a safe and effective vaccine. However, the limited knowledge of protective Bm-specific antigens has hampered the development of a vaccine. Further, the use of antigen-delivery systems that enhance antigen immunogenicity and elicit robust antigen-specific immune responses has been limited a...
O'Neill T, Kydd JH, Allen GP, Wattrang E, Mumford JA, Hannant D.The frequency of antigen-specific, genetically restricted cytotoxic T lymphocyte precursors (CTLp) was measured in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of ponies before and after infection with equid herpesvirus 1 (EHV1). Split-well limiting dilution analysis (LDA) was developed to measure CTLp frequency using EHV1-infected 51Cr-labelled lymphoblasts as targets. Extensive characterisation showed that recombinant human interleukin-2, autologous antigen presenting cells and equine serum containing virus neutralising antibody were necessary for maturation of CTLp into effector CTL in vitro. ...
Paillot R, Rash NL, Garrett D, Prowse-Davis L, Montesso F, Cullinane A, Lemaitre L, Thibault JC, Wittreck S, Dancer A.Vaccination is highly effective to prevent, control, and limit the impact of equine influenza (EI), a major respiratory disease of horses. However, EI vaccines should contain relevant equine influenza virus (EIV) strains for optimal protection. The OIE expert surveillance panel annually reviews EIV evolution and, since 2010, the use of Florida clade 1 and 2 sub-lineages representative vaccine strains is recommended. This report summarises the development process of a fully- updated recombinant canarypox-based EI vaccine in order to meet the last OIE recommendations, including the vaccine mode ...
Wagner B, Perkins G, Babasyan S, Freer H, Keggan A, Goodman LB, Glaser A, Torsteinsdóttir S, Svansson V, Björnsdóttir S.Neonatal foals respond poorly to conventional vaccines. These vaccines typically target T-helper (Th) cell dependent B-cell activation. However, Th2-cell immunity is impaired in foals during the first three months of life. In contrast, neonatal basophils are potent interleukin-4 (IL-4) producers. The purpose of this study was to develop a novel vaccine triggering the natural capacity of neonatal basophils to secrete IL-4 and to evaluate if vaccination resulted in B-cell activation and antibody production against EHV-1 glycoprotein C (gC). Neonatal vaccination was performed by oral biotinylated...
Chirino-Trejo JM, Prescott JF, Yager JA.Two groups of three one to three week old foals were immunized orally on four occasions over five weeks with two strains of Rhodococcus equi, a clinical isolate from a pneumonic foal and a laboratory passaged Congo red negative variant of this strain. Three nonimmunized foals of similar age acted as controls. Three weeks after the last immunization, all foals were challenged on five occasions over seven days by aerosol infection with about 10(10) of the pneumonic foal isolate on each occasion. Control foals became seriously ill and were euthanized. Immunization with either strain protected foa...
Ito M, Nagai M, Hayakawa Y, Komae H, Murakami N, Yotsuya S, Asakura S, Sakoda Y, Kida H.In August 2007, an outbreak of equine influenza occurred among vaccinated racehorses with Japanese commercial equine influenza vaccine at Kanazawa Racecourse in Ishikawa prefecture in Japan. Apparent symptoms were pyrexia (38.2-41.0 degrees C) and nasal discharge with or without coughing, although approximately half of the infected horses were subclinical. All horses had been shot with a vaccine that contained two inactivated H3N8 influenza virus strains [A/equine/La Plata/93 (La Plata/93) of American lineage and A/equine/Avesta/93 (Avesta/93) of European lineage] and an H7N7 strain (A/equine/...
Lee JS, Hadjipanayis AG, Welkos SL.Anthrax, a disease usually associated with herbivores, is caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. The current vaccine licensed for human use requires a six-dose primary series and yearly boosters and causes reactogenicity in up to 30% of vaccine recipients. A minimally reactogenic vaccine requiring fewer inoculations is warranted. Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) virus has been configured for use as a vaccine vector for a wide variety of immunogens. The VEE vaccine vector is composed of a self-replicating RNA (replicon) containing all of the VEE virus nonstructural genes and a multiple...
Wimer CL, Schnabel CL, Perkins G, Babasyan S, Freer H, Stout AE, Rollins A, Osterrieder N, Goodman LB, Glaser A, Wagner B.The equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) ORF1 and ORF71 genes have immune modulatory effects in vitro. Experimental infection of horses using virus mutants with multiple deletions including ORF1 and ORF71 showed promise as vaccine candidates against EHV-1. Here, the combined effects of ORF1 and ORF71 deletions from the neuropathogenic EHV-1 strain Ab4 on clinical disease and host immune response were further explored. Three groups of EHV-1 naïve horses were experimentally infected with the ORF1/71 gene deletion mutant (Ab4ΔORF1/71), the parent Ab4 strain, or remained uninfected. In comparison t...
Lin YZ, Cao XZ, Li L, Li L, Jiang CG, Wang XF, Ma J, Zhou JH.The attenuated equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) vaccine was the first attenuated lentivirus vaccine to be used in a large-scale application and has been used to successfully control the spread of equine infectious anemia (EIA) in China. To better understand the potential role of cytokines in the pathogenesis of EIAV infection and resulting immune response, we used branched DNA technology to compare the mRNA expression levels of 12 cytokines and chemokines, including IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-4, IL-10, TNF-α, IFN-γ, IP-10, IL-8, MIP-1α, MIP-1β, MCP-1, and MCP-2, in equine monocyte-derived mac...
Florindo HF, Pandit S, Lacerda L, Gonçalves LM, Alpar HO, Almeida AJ.Strangles is a bacterial infection of the Equidae family that affects the nasopharynx and draining lymph nodes, caused by Streptococcus equi subspecies equi. This agent is responsible for 30% of all worldwide equine infections and is quite sensitive to penicillin and other antibiotics. However, prevention is still the best option because the current antibiotic therapy and vaccination is often ineffective. As S. equi induces very strong systemic and mucosal responses in convalescent horses, an effective and economic strangles vaccine is still a priority. In this study the humoral, cellular and ...
Prescott JF, Nicholson VM, Patterson MC, Zandona Meleiro MC, Caterino de Araujo A, Yager JA, Holmes MA.To evaluate use of the virulence-associated protein of Rhodococcus equi in immunizing foals against R equi pneumonia. Methods: Eight (experimental group) and 6 (controls) mares with their foals. Methods: Virulence-associated protein extracted from R equi was used to prepare an acetone-precipitated. Triton X-extracted (APTX) antigen. After determination of the efficacy of passive immunization, in untreated foals or in foals given plasma from a horse vaccinated with APTX antigen or from a nonvaccinated horse, a field trial was done to evaluate the efficacy of vaccination of 8 mares, twice with A...
Lunn DP, Soboll G, Schram BR, Quass J, McGregor MW, Drape RJ, Macklin MD, McCabe DE, Swain WF, Olsen CW.Equine influenza virus infection remains one of the most important infectious diseases of the horse, yet current vaccines offer only limited protection. The equine immune response to natural influenza virus infection results in long-term protective immunity, and is characterized by mucosal IgA and serum IgGa and IgGb antibody responses. DNA vaccination offers a radical alternative to conventional vaccines, with the potential to generate the same protective immune responses seen following viral infection. Antigen-specific antibody isotype responses in serum and mucosal secretions were studied i...
Kaname Y, Celma CCP, Kanai Y, Roy P.African horse sickness virus (AHSV) is an insect-vectored emerging pathogen of equine species. AHSV (nine serotypes) is a member of the genus Orbivirus, with a morphology and coding strategy similar to that of the type member, bluetongue virus. However, these viruses are distinct at the genetic level, in the proteins they encode and in their pathobiology. AHSV infection of horses is highly virulent with a mortality rate of up to 90 %. AHSV is transmitted by Culicoides, a common European insect, and has the potential to emerge in Europe from endemic countries of Africa. As a result, a safe an...
McGuire TC, Leib SR, Mealey RH, Fraser DG, Prieur DJ.Control of a naturally occurring lentivirus, equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV), occurs in most infected horses and involves MHC class I-restricted, virus-specific CTL. Two minimal 12-aa epitopes, Env-RW12 and Gag-GW12, were evaluated for presentation by target cells from horses with an equine lymphocyte Ag-A1 (ELA-A1) haplotype. Fifteen of 15 presented Env-RW12 to CTL, whereas 11 of 15 presented Gag-GW12. To determine whether these epitopes were presented by different molecules, MHC class I genes were identified in cDNA clones from Arabian horse A2152, which presented both epitopes. This h...
Calvo-Pinilla E, de la Poza F, Gubbins S, Mertens PP, Ortego J, Castillo-Olivares J.Previous studies show that a recombinant modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) virus expressing VP2 of AHSV serotype 4 (MVA-VP2) induced virus neutralising antibodies in horses and protected interferon alpha receptor gene knock-out mice (IFNAR -/-) against challenge. Follow up experiments indicated that passive transfer of antiserum, from MVA-VP2 immune donors to recipient mice 1h before challenge, conferred complete clinical protection and significantly reduced viraemia. These studies have been extended to determine the protective effect of MVA-VP2 vaccine-induced antiserum, when administered 48h be...
Toth AM, Geisler C, Aumiller JJ, Jarvis DL.In an effort to produce processed, soluble Western equine encephalitis virus (WEEV) glycoproteins for subunit therapeutic vaccine studies, we isolated twelve recombinant baculoviruses designed to express four different WEEV glycoprotein constructs under the transcriptional control of three temporally distinct baculovirus promoters. The WEEV glycoprotein constructs encoded full-length E1, the E1 ectodomain, an E26KE1 polyprotein precursor, and an artificial, secretable E2E1 chimera. The three different promoters induced gene expression during the immediate early (ie1), late (p6.9), and very lat...
Wilde H, Thipkong P, Sitprija V, Chaiyabutr N.Active immunization against infectious disease is important. However, much of our world faces poverty, social injustice, and warfare, all of which cause universal immunization to remain a distant dream. Agents that provide passive immunity thus remain essential biologicals. The most important of these are human or equine antisera against rabies, tetanus, diphtheria, and snake antivenins. Homologous products are either unavailable or unaffordable in places where they are needed the most. Less expensive heterologous (equine) antisera can be purified and are safe to use, but these antisera are al...
Yates P, Mumford JA.To investigate the level of cross-protection induced by equine influenza H3N8 vaccines derived from different lineages, two studies have been carried out with ponies vaccinated with 'American-like' and 'European-like' vaccines and experimentally challenged with a European-like strain. The results demonstrated that equine influenza vaccines clearly protect against challenge with homologous virus if serum antibody titres are sufficiently high. On the other hand, protection is incomplete even when animals vaccinated with heterologous strains have comparative antibody levels. Nevertheless, the pro...
Pedersen NC.Lentiviruses are associated with persistent infection and chronic
disease in three major species of livestock—horses, sheep, and goats.
Another lentivirus named bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) recently has been described (Gonda et al., 1987). It is a Visna-like virus that was originally isolated over a decade ago from cattle with
persistent lymphocytosis, lymphadenopathy, weakness, emaciation,
and central nervous system (CNS) lesions (Van der Maaten et al,
1972). There is very little information on the epidemiology, clinical
manifestations, or importance of bovine lentivirus infect...
van Rijn PA, Maris-Veldhuis MA, Potgieter CA, van Gennip RGP.African horse sickness virus (AHSV) is a virus species in the genus Orbivirus of the family Reoviridae. Currently, nine serotypes have been defined showing limited cross neutralization. AHSV is transmitted by species of Culicoides biting midges and causes African Horse Sickness (AHS) in equids with a mortality up to 95% in naïve domestic horses. AHS has become a serious threat for countries outside Africa, since endemic Culicoides species in moderate climates are competent vectors of closely related bluetongue virus. AHS outbreaks cause huge economic losses in developing countries. In the dev...
The Journal of hygieneJune 1, 1983
Volume 90, Issue 3 385-395 doi: 10.1017/s0022172400029016
Mumford J, Wood JM, Scott AM, Folkers C, Schild GC.Forty ponies immunized with inactivated virus vaccine containing A/equine/Miami/63 (H3N8) virus and six unvaccinated, seronegative ponies were experimentally challenged with a representative of recent equine H3N8 virus isolates, A/equine/Newmarket/79. All unvaccinated ponies became infected as judged by virus excretion, febrile responses and antibody responses, but only two of the vaccinated ponies were fully protected. Pre-challenge antibody levels to A/Newmarket/79 virus detected by single radial haemolysis (SRH) correlated well with the degree of clinical protection but the levels required ...
Khusro A, Aarti C, Pliego AB, Cipriano-Salazar M.Hendra virus (HeV) is a zoonotic paramyxovirus which causes acute and deadly infection in horses (Equus caballus). It is a rare and unmanaged emerging viral infection in horses which is harbored by bats of the genus Pteropus (Australian flying foxes or fruit bats). The virus is pleomorphic in shape and its genome contains nonsegmented negative-stranded RNA with 18234 nucleotides in length. The virus is transmitted from flying foxes to horses, horse to horse, and horse to humans. Human-to-human transmission of HeV infection is not reported yet. The infection of HeV in horses is highly variable ...
McNabb L, Barr J, Crameri G, Juzva S, Riddell S, Colling A, Boyd V, Broder C, Wang LF, Lunt R.Hendra and Nipah viruses (HeV and NiV) are closely related zoonotic pathogens of the Paramyxoviridae family. Both viruses belong to the Henipavirus genus and cause fatal disease in animals and humans, though only HeV is endemic in Australia. In general and due to the acute nature of the disease, agent detection by PCR and virus isolation are the primary tools for diagnostic investigations. Assays for the detection of antibodies against HeV are fit more readily for the purpose of surveillance testing in disease epidemiology and to meet certification requirements in the international movement of...
Bürki F, Rossmanith W, Nowotny N, Pallan C, Möstl K, Lussy H.Eighteen horses, vaccinated on a number of occasions over a period of 12 to 20 months with either a live equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) or an inactivated EHV-1 vaccine, were challenged by the intranasal instillation of the subtype 1 virus isolated from the 1983 outbreak of abortion and paralytic disease at the Lipizzan Stud, Piber, Austria. The prechallenge serum titres of all vaccinated horses were remarkably low, although most horses had received their last vaccine dose only 3 weeks before test-infection. Higher titres were obtained with the inactivated product than with the live virus vaccine...
Khatibzadeh SM, Gold CB, Keggan AE, Perkins GA, Glaser AL, Dubovi EJ, Wagner B.To compare antibody responses of horses naturally infected with West Nile virus (WNV) and those vaccinated against WNV, to identify whether vaccination interferes with the ability to diagnose WNV infection, and to determine the duration of antibody responses after vaccination. Methods: Sera from horses naturally infected with WNV (n = 10) and adult WNV-naïve horses before and after vaccination with a live canarypox virus-vectored vaccine (7) or a killed virus vaccine (8). Methods: An established WNV IgM capture ELISA was used to measure IgM responses. Newly developed capture ELISAs were used ...
Jacobs AA, Goovaerts D, Nuijten PJ, Theelen RP, Hartford OM, Foster TJ.As part of a search for a safe and efficacious strangles vaccine, several different vaccines and different vaccination routes were tested in foals. The degree of protection was evaluated after an intranasal challenge with virulent Streptococcus equi by clinical, postmortem and bacteriological examinations. Inactivated vaccines containing either native purified M-protein (500 microg per dose) or whole S equi cells (10(10) cells per dose) administered at least twice intramuscularly at intervals of four weeks, did not protect against challenge. Different live attenuated S equi mutants administere...
Lunn DP, Hussey S, Sebing R, Rushlow KE, Radecki SV, Whitaker-Dowling P, Youngner JS, Chambers TM, Holland RE, Horohov DW.To determine safety, efficacy, and immunogenicity of an intranasal cold-adapted modified-live equine influenza virus vaccine administered to ponies following induction of exercise-induced immunosuppression. Methods: Prospective study. Methods: Fifteen 9- to 15-month old ponies that had not had influenza. Methods: Five ponies were vaccinated after 5 days of strenuous exercise on a high-speed treadmill, 5 were vaccinated without undergoing exercise, and 5 were not vaccinated or exercised and served as controls. Three months later, all ponies were challenged by nebulization of homologous equine i...
Lulla V, Lulla A, Wernike K, Aebischer A, Beer M, Roy P.African horse sickness virus (AHSV), an orbivirus in the Reoviridae family with nine different serotypes, causes devastating disease in equids. The virion particle is composed of seven proteins organized in three concentric layers, an outer layer made of VP2 and VP5, a middle layer made of VP7, and inner layer made of VP3 that encloses a replicase complex of VP1, VP4, and VP6 and a genome of 10 double-stranded RNA segments. In this study, we sought to develop highly efficacious candidate vaccines against all AHSV serotypes, taking into account not only immunogenic and safety properties but als...
Go YY, Zhang J, Timoney PJ, Cook RF, Horohov DW, Balasuriya UB.Extensive cell culture passage of the virulent Bucyrus (VB) strain of equine arteritis virus (EAV) to produce the modified live virus (MLV) vaccine strain has altered its tropism for equine CD3(+) T lymphocytes and CD14(+) monocytes. The VB strain primarily infects CD14(+) monocytes and a small subpopulation of CD3(+) T lymphocytes (predominantly CD4(+) T lymphocytes), as determined by dual-color flow cytometry. In contrast, the MLV vaccine strain has a significantly reduced ability to infect CD14(+) monocytes and has lost its capability to infect CD3(+) T lymphocytes. Using a panel of five re...
