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Livestock: Locally made vaccine set for release

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Scientists at NaLRRI in Wakiso district showcasing a sample of Antick Vaccine vial. PHOTO/ LOMINDA AFEDRARU

Tick borne disease is a threat to cattle farmers across the globe including Uganda the reason Ugandan scientists have been working hard to come up with vaccine due for commercialisation early this year.

It is estimated that annually the total global costs linked to ticks and tick vectored pathogens in cattle range between US$ 413.9 billion and 18trillion.

In Uganda, studies have estimated that losses of over US$1.1 billion occur annually due to ticks borne diseases including East Cost Fever, baesiosis, anaplasmosis and cowdriosis known in the local language as kamunguluze.

At farm level 80 percent of the total annual expenses incurred in management of cattle disease are associated with controlling tick borne diseases.

In the case of East Cost Fever outbreak is usually 30 percent and up to 100 percent mortality of calves amongst indie=generous and native crossbred exotic cattle respectively on annual basis.

The background of Ant tick borne vaccine in Uganda

Generally ticks are considered to be the most resilient and harmful parasites to the livestock globally.

For more than a century, the control of ticks and tick-bone diseases depended mainly on the use of chemical acaricides.

The use of acaricide chemicals has been favoured by their quick knockdown effect.

However, use of chemical acaricides is associated with the progressive development of global acaricide resistant tick populations which was first reported in 1937, resulting into environmental contamination and destruction of non-target organisms notably bees and wild birds

Vaccines are the most sustainable, effective and environmentally sound alternative for tick control.

Anti-tick vaccines are designed to induce a protective response in vaccinated animal hosts such as cattle.

When ticks suck blood from vaccinated cattle their body functions are impaired leading death of many ticks, hence resulting to reduced tick populations over time.

The first anti-tick vaccines registered was TickGARD in Australia and Gavac in Cuba were designed for the control of tick species that occur in those countries.

Scientists recommend farmers embrace best practice by combining vaccination with a rational and not abusive acaricide application.

As vaccination proceeds over time and animals are more protected. This practice translates into a decrease in tick infestations and the incidence of tick-borne diseases together with the reduction in the use of acaricides


Anti-Tick regime in Uganda

Scientists at the National Agricultural Livestock Resources Research Institute (NaLRRI) have for the last 12 years been researching and developing Anti Tick Vaccine.

Dr Fredrick Kabi the lead anti-tick vaccine investigator said commercialisation of the vaccine will kick off early this year.

This is after the National Drug Authority approval and Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNSCT) confirmed that it is safe for use.

The team concluded clinical trials in April 2024 and submitted their results to UNCST and NDA for certification.

Dr Kabi and his team are currently equipping the production Laboratory based at NaLRRI in Nakyesasa, Wakiso district.

According to Dr Kabi the facility is capable of manufacturing and packaging 200m dozes of the Anti- tick vaccine called NaroVac annually.

The vaccine research process

The research process started by a collaboration between the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) and a group at the Health and Biotechnology SaBio, Institute for Game and Wildlife Research in Spain.

During the last 10 years, this collaboration has resulted in the development of vaccines specifically targeting ticks that infest cattle in Uganda.

These ticks include Brown Ear tick (Rhipicephalus appendiculatus) locally known as Engoha, African blue tick (Rhipicephalus decoloratus), locally known as entujo and tropical bont tick (Amblyomma variegatum) locally known as Embarabara. 

The vaccines were derived from a protein called Subolesin which was extracted from native tick species.

The early research efforts were undertaken by a NARO staff, Kasaija Paul as part of his PhD work at the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM), Spain.

So far, this collaborative effort has produced two types of vaccines notably the injectable and oral vaccine anti-tick vaccines. 

The injectable anti-tick vaccine is administered in the muscle of cattle around the neck region while oral vaccine is given to cattle through the mouth or mixed in a suitable cattle meal.

The injectable anti-tick vaccine has been evaluated on fivefarms across the country representing five ecological zones of Uganda.

The farms include Mbarara ZARDI farm in Mbarara City; Kiburara Prison farm in Ibanda District; Isimba Prison farm in Masindi District; Maruzi Livestock research Station in Apac District and Nabuin ZARDI farm in Nabilatuk District.

During the 12 month period trial cattle were sprayed twice at Mbarara and completely not sprayed at Kiburara and Isimba farms.

In addition, during the 10 months of the field evaluation trial, cattle were only sprayed once at Maruzi and completely not sprayed at Nabuin.

Trial cattle were sprayed twice. On all the farms, there were no deaths due to tick and tick-borne diseases during the trial period.

NARO has already obtained a utility model patent for the injectable and oral anti-tick vaccines (UG/U/2023/6) and efforts are underway to acquire clearance from the national regulatory bodies to register and recommend use of the vaccines by farmers.

The production process

Dr Kabi explained that the first step is to acquire vaccine seed which is cleaned and grown to get sufficient antigens to produce required volumes.

This is done in the Laboratory using specialised machine where it goes through different process for purification.

There after it is bended and mixed in a closed system to ensure there are no contaminations. It is packaged in bottles ready for onward distribution.

NaroVac vaccine will not only be beneficial for cattle farmers in Uganda but beyond East Africa because the team intends to manufacture for export to attract revenue earnings for the country.

The team has already processed and manufactured some reasonable amount of vials which have been used on animals during the trial.

The recommended doze is that farmers are expected to give each cattle a vial as booster dozeon day one and the next doze is given after 30 days with the next after 180 days. The subsequent doze is given once a year.

Challenges faced

The head of Vaccine Research at NaLRRI Dr Moses Ddikusooka notes that when conducting research scientists are looking for alternative solutions to help farmers with disease burden

The NaroVac Vaiccine can be used in adult and calf cattle but before commercialisation of the vaccine famers have been using acaricides which is not environmentally friendly.

The statistics indicate that farmers in Uganda lose Shs3.5 trillion annually due to ant-tick related diseases with each farmers spending Shs500million to purchase acaricides.

When spraying acaricides, there is possibility of it killing birds and essential insects such as bees which farmers need for pollination and it also kills soil organisms.

Other challenges include lack of scientists specialised in animal vaccine development.