Successful vaccination against Nipah Virus
Researchers have successfully vaccinated monkeys against the deadly Nipah virus, a human pathogen that emerged in the late 90s, and which kills both humans and animals.
The development builds upon earlier work by the scientists, who found that the same vaccine can protect cats from Nipah virus, and horses and ferrets from the closely-related Hendra virus.
Both the viruses target the lungs and brain, and both have a high fatality rate in humans. Disease outbreaks have occurred regularly over the past decade.
The research group developed a vaccine based on a Hendra virus surface protein, which is a known target for triggering a protective host immune response. In this study, they used the recently developed African green monkey model of Nipah disease to test three different doses of the vaccine. All nine vaccinated animals survived a lethal Nipah virus challenged given 42 days after the initial vaccination.
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
