Technology Development Trend of Animal Vaccines

Chang, Chia-Chen

Abstract

Animal vaccines are biological products made from inactivated or attenuated microorganisms, their toxins, or surface proteins to prevent or control animal diseases. The success of traditional inactivated and live-attenuated animal vaccines has increased livestock productivity, contributed to food security, and reduced morbidity and mortality from animal and zoonotic diseases. However, traditional vaccine technologies are not without fault, and studies on the improvement of animal vaccine technology have been reporting. With the advancement of molecular biology techniques, novel animal vaccines, such as subunits, vectors, DNA or RNA vaccine, have gradually been developed and commercially available in recent years. This topic will introduce these novel animal vaccines that have been marketed in the world, and understand the development of animal vaccine technologies.

Common pathological findings in Formosan pangolins

Yen-Wen Chen

Abstract

Formosan pangolin (Manis pentadactyla pentadactyla) is one of the subspecies of Chinese pangolins distributed in Taiwan and has been listed as Critically Endangered (CR) on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List since 2019. During 2020-2022, over ninety Formosan pangolins were submitted to Animal Health Research Institute for necropsy, histopathological examination, and microbiological examinations. Most of the pangolins had severe traumatic injuries and long-term histories for treatments. Causes of the traumas included animal attacks, traps, and vehicle collision. Emaciated, ruptured tail, loss of extremities and puncture wound of trunk were frequently noted at external examination. Common pathological findings were hydrothorax/hydroperitoneum, interstitial pneumonia, alveolar hemorrhage, round heart with myocardial degeneration, hemorrhagic enteritis, intestinal parasites, erosive/ulcerative gastritis, cortical hemorrhage of adrenal glands, and mite infestation. Microbiological examination results included canine parvovirus type 2, Strongyloides sp., Necator americanus, intestinal Clostridium perfringens, and so on.

The causes of death (COD) in these Formosan pangolins were highly correlated to traumas, chronic stress, and respiratory distress due to pneumonia. At present, research of pathology and diseases in pangolins is still limited, consistently collecting data and using diagnostic and molecular biological methods as next-generation sequencing, virus isolation, and in situ hybridization for further studies are in progress under the collaboration of public and private sectors in Taiwan.