The Introduction of Bovine Ephemeral Fever Inactivated Vaccine Process
Shu-Ting Kuo
Abstract
Bovine ephemeral fever (BEF), caused by bovine ephemeral fever virus belonging to the Rhabdoviridae, is an arthropod-borne disease. BEF has turned info to an endemic in Taiwan, which means that this disease infection could be persistently seen in the field. Besides the clinical signs, such as high fever, respiratory syndrome and joint pain, this febrile disease often causes serious economic damage to the dairy industry, due to reducing milk production. Although the conventional aluminum phosphate (Al-gel) vaccine is safe, the lasting period of high serum neutralizing (SN) antibody titer is not long enough to provide effective protection for the cattle herd. To improve this, the development of the BEF vaccine containing a new adjuvant had begun in 2015. The alteration of adjuvant in the animal pharmaceuticals license of BEF vaccine had been approved in 2019. This development could provide a high efficacy vaccine to the farmer and better protection against BEF to the herd in Taiwan.
This work report is to report the current manufacturing progress of BEF inactivated vaccine and the difficulties we are facing.
Seroprevalence Survey and Analysis of Neutralizing Antibodies against Senecavirus A in Pigs
Cheng-Ju Pan
Abstract
Senecavirus A (SVA), formerly known as Seneca valley virus, is a single-stranded positive-sense RNA virus belonging to the Picornaviridae family. SVA was first identified in cell culture contamination in 2002 and was subsequently detected in commercial pig herds in the United States in 2015. Since then, outbreaks have occurred in several countries, including Canada, Brazil, China, Colombia, and Thailand. SVA infection shares similarities with other vesicular diseases and is highly contagious. To date, there has been no available vaccines, and its presence in regions where other vesicular diseases, such as foot-and-mouth disease, are prevalent makes diagnosis and monitoring more challenging. In this study, we conducted a seroprevalence survey of SVA neutralizing antibodies in domestic pigs in Taiwan. Additionally, in collaboration with the College of Veterinary Medicine, National Taiwan University, we performed a risk factor analysis based on data from the pretest survey in 2021 and the subsequent testing in 2022. The analysis revealed that the presence of other pig farms in the vicinity, the occurrence of breeding activities within the pig farm, swill feeding, handling pigs by external personnel, and the presence of natural breeding activities in the pig farm were identified as risk factors associated with the presence of SVA neutralizing antibodies. Conversely, performing artificial insemination and cleaning and disinfecting pig houses thoroughly after depopulation were considered as protective factors. Based on the investigation results above, we recommend strengthening preventive measures against these risk factors in the routine biosafety operations to reduce the probability of SVA infection.
Report on the Attending the International Mini-Symposium on Diagnosis and Epidemiology of Animal Infectious Diseases at Konkuk University in South Korea
Wan-Chen Li
Abstract
The International Mini-Symposium on Diagnosis and Epidemiology of Animal Infectious Diseases was held by Konkuk University Seoul Campus in South Korea from June 5th to 6th, 2023. The symposium was organized by the college of Veterinary Medicine of Konkuk University as part of its international cooperation project, aiming to share the monitoring and occurrence of animal infectious diseases in the Asian countries and to explore the feasibility of establishing an academic cooperation network. The symposium invited our institute to share the Taiwan wild bird avian influenza surveillance system and the invasion of high pathogenicity avian influenza, including the highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses of the 2.3.4.4b clade H5N1 subtype during 2021-2022. By participating in this symposium, we not only enhanced the international visibility of our research, but also learned about the animal infectious disease situation and research development trends of the participating countries. In addition to improving our professional skills and establishing a research information network, the relevant information can also serve as a reference for future research.