Public-private partnership enabled use of anti-tick vaccine for integrated cattle fever tick eradication in the USA Chapter uri icon

Resumen

  • Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus and Rhipicephalus annulatus are invasive tick species and vectors of microbes causing bovine babesiosis and anaplasmosis that were declared eradicated from the USA in 1943 through efforts of the Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program. These tick disease vectors remain established and affect livestock health and production in other countries located in tropical and subtropical parts of the world. R. microplus is considered the most economically important external parasite of livestock where it is established. Synthetic acaricides are used intensely to kill R. microplus and R. annulatus, but this leads eventually to the problem of acaricide resistance and other associated undesired effects. Novel and safer technologies that can be integrated with existing control methods are required to manage R. microplus and R. annulatus populations and associated diseases sustainably. In the case of the USA, the need for a systems approach was identified to keep the national cattle herd free of bovine babesiosis through the integrated use of technologies, including anti-tick vaccines, to eliminate outbreaks of R. microplus and R. annulatus. Anti-tick vaccines containing the recombinant antigen Bm86 are veterinary biologics used together with veterinary pharmaceuticals such as acaricides to enhance livestock protection where populations of R. microplus and R. annulatus are established. But, access to Gavac™, the only anti-tick vaccine commercially available and used to control R. microplus and R. annulatus, is limited to certain national veterinary products markets, excluding the USA. Efforts of a public-private partnership that developed, and obtained an experimental use permit issued to the animal health company Zoetis for a novel Bm86-based vaccine formulation to be integrated as part of operations by the Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program are described here. Statutes more than 100 years old governing operations of the Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program were adapted to eliminate R. microplus and R. annulatus infestations in cattle and mitigate the risk of future tick outbreaks in the Permanent Quarantine Zone in south Texas on the border with Mexico by adding immunization with the Bm86-based vaccine as part of the operational protocol. This achievement enabled the experimental use of the Zoetis Bm-86 based vaccine to immunize beef and dairy cattle as part of the research project for integrated control of the southern cattle fever tick in Puerto Rico. Our collective work documenting anti-cattle tick vaccine discovery research is described to illustrate how international cooperation supported research on integrated management for the Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program. Public-private partnerships may be a way to develop novel anti-tick vaccines in other parts of the world for use as part of integrated R. microplus management strategies.

Fecha de publicación

  • agosto 22, 2018

chapter number

  • 10

Edición

  • 5