Thursday, November 29, 2018

Strangles Vaccine Breakthrough

Equinescienceupdate.com - Full Article

It has been a long time coming, but now an effective vaccine for strangles may finally be on the horizon.

Strangles is one of the most common bacterial infections of horses. Streptococcus equi, the organism responsible, causes horses to suffer from large pus-filled abscesses in their throat and neck. It is found throughout the world.

The disease causes significant economic losses due to the prolonged recovery time and the quarantine measures needed to restrict the spread of the disease.

Although vaccines have been available before, they have not been universally effective and have often produced unacceptable side effects. Reported problems have included abscesses at the site of injection, and clinical disease in vaccinated horses. An additional problem is that the immune response to current vaccines cannot be differentiated from that of infected animals. This complicates the management of outbreaks.

Now scientists at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the Karolinska Institute and Intervacc AB, and the Animal Health Trust (AHT), have developed a new protein-based vaccine to protect horses from strangles...

Read more here:
http://www.equinescienceupdate.com/articles/svb.html

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