Scientists from Australia and the US are teaming up to tackle devastating African swine fever with a safe and effective vaccine.
Regraded as one of animal science's biggest challenges, the aim is to develop a safe and effective vaccine to bring the viral pandemic devastating the world's pig industries under control.
Australia's national science agency, CSIRO, and US biotech firm MBF Therapeutics are working together to evaluate a novel DNA vaccine candidate for ASF.
While Australia has never had an outbreak of African swine fever, it has recently spread through Asia and is now found in Indonesia, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea.
It's estimated a large-scale outbreak in Australia would cost the economy up to $2 billion, killing up to 100 per cent of infected pigs.
The vaccine will be evaluated in the secure laboratories at CSIRO's Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness in Geelong.
African swine fever expert at ACDP, Dr David Williams, said scientists had not yet been able to develop a completely safe and effective vaccine.
"While first-generation vaccines have recently been approved for use in some parts of Asia, these are weakened live virus vaccines, which have potential to revert back to a disease-causing form and can cause side effects in sows and pigs with infections or other illnesses," Dr Williams said.
"CSIRO's Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness is one of the few labs in the world that can safely work with the virus.
"We'll be bringing all our diagnostic tools, reagents and research capability to this challenge, and learning from the experience for future research."
MBF Therapeutics chief executive officer Thomas Tillet said the DNA vaccine platform was based on technology adapted from immunotherapeutic treatment of human cancer, and aims to eliminate pathogens as they enter the body.
"Dr Williams' and CSIRO's expertise in the field of African swine fever, combined with MBF Therapeutics' innovative T-Max Precision vaccine platform, provides an opportunity to work towards a truly safe and effective African swine fever vaccine," Mr Tillet said.
"MBF Therapeutics' ultimate goal is to create a vaccine that can be used safely in all stages of swine production, including sows, while preventing disease in individual animals and limiting transmission within the herd and environment."
The work is part of CSIRO's Immune Resilience Future Science Platform, a program which uses new and emerging technologies to accelerate a deeper understanding of the immune systems of both humans and animals.
The virus does not pass to humans, and affected pork is safe for human consumption.
- Emergency Animal Disease Watch Hotline on 1800 675 888.
