Scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Animal and Human Health program and a newly established platform that aims to transform animal health services and solutions in low-and middle-income countries (TAHSSL) have developed a panel of new procedures for measuring the immunological activity of livestock blood samples to a specific pathogen. Known as antibody assays, it uses antigen-specific blood serum from animals … Continue reading
Elise Schiecka, Anne Liljandera and Joerg Joresa,b aInternational Livestock Research Institute, Box 30709, 00100, Nairobi, Kenya bInstitute of Veterinary Bacteriology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Länggass-Str. 122, Postfach 3001, Bern, Switzerland Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP), caused by Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides (Mmm), remains one of the most important infectious diseases of cattle in sub-Saharan Africa. CBPP … Continue reading
Lucilla Steinaa1, Walter Fuchs2, Hussein Abkallo1, Nicholas Svitek1, Vish Nene1, Anna Lacasta1, Nacyra Assa-Garcia3, Sanjay Vashee3 1International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), 2Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI), 3J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI). ILRI is working together with JCVI and FLI on an exciting project for the development of a platform for rapid production of attenuated African swine … Continue reading
Three doses of p67C antigen generated stronger immune responses than two doses. Antibody titres and CD4+ T-cell proliferation correlated with protection against East Coast fever. The number of doses could not be reduced from three to two without compromising the protection. Continue reading
There is inadequate herd and community level information on the impact of CBPP and its control by vaccination to allow adequate allocation of resources for CBPP control in affected ecosystems of Kenya. A study was designed in Narok district to provide this crucial information for the Maasai ecosystem. Continue reading
The ECF consortium is aiming at producing a vaccine that would trigger both an antibody response and a T cell dependent response. Thanks to the whole genome sequence of Theileria parva and its annotation, we have short listed hundreds of antigen candidates, but the number of antigen candidate that can be tested in cattle is limited. How do we narrow down the list of candidates to a handful that can be studied rigorously in live experiments? Continue reading
The recent meeting of the East Coast fever consortium, which brings together experts in immunology, parasitology and genomics from three continents (ILRI, Edinburgh, Antwerp, IGS, as well as the organization that produces the infection and treatment method (ITM) vaccine, provided a venue to discuss a way forward. Continue reading
As part of a BMGF-funded consortium a novel Next-generation-sequencing (NGS) approach to high-throughput MHC typing of cattle has been developed that allows rapid, cheap and high resolution characterisation of bovine MHC genotypes Continue reading
A recent review, as well as current studies in the primary literature, present examples of how cancer research can be used in the study of Theileria biology, suggesting that this might be a turning point that could revolutionize how T. parva infection is studied. Continue reading
We are here aiming to directly identify the parts or ‘antigens’ of the Theileria parva parasite that are visible to the cellular immune system during infection using a state-of-the-art mass spectrometry approach in order to inform the development of targeted vaccines against Theileriosis. Continue reading
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