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Veterinary immunologists have developed a vaccine for a virus that’s one of the the leading killers of elephants in captivity and in the wild.
With no cure, and with a penchant for claiming the lives of elephants calves, elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) has been responsible in recent years for the deaths of five elephants at England’s Chester Zoo in, which participated in the development of the vaccine.
The EEHV vaccine’s successful early trials have been heralded as a “landmark moment,” for the protection of wild and captive animals in conservation herds.
Delivered in a two-dose set, with the first containing a harmless, dead version of the virus and a second delivering a booster to increase the immune response, it was found to trigger a robust immune response against EEHV with no harmful side effects.
“This is a landmark moment in our work to develop safe and efficacious vaccines,” said Professor Falko Steinbach, senior author of the study and a veterinary immunology professor at the University of Surrey. “For the first time, we have shown in elephants that a vaccine can trigger the type of immune response needed to protect them against EEHV.”
The team behind the development of the vaccine, which included scientists from the University of Surrey, Chester Zoo, and UK’s Animal and Plant Health Agency, published a study presenting the findings from the vaccine trial in Nature Communications.
SAVING ELEPHANTS:
It showed by comparing blood samples of vaccinated elephants vs non-vaccinated elephants that the drug should be able to prevent herd members from dying of EEHV, and support conservation breeding programs across the world.
“EEHV has taken the lives of so many elephants, both in human care and in the wild, but this vaccine offers hope,” said Dr. Katie Edwards, lead conservation scientist at the Chester Zoo. “We can’t yet say this will be the end of EEHV deaths, but we have taken a massive step towards that goal.”
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