There are new developments for a highly pathogenic avian influenza vaccine for both chickens and humans. Both vaccines could be significant as the poultry industry yearns for a solution that can avoid infections that lead to the culling of entire flocks, and farmland operators also want better way to protect their workers.
Zoetis, an American drug company that is the world’s largest producer of vaccinations and medicines for livestock and pets, developed a vaccine for chickens. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Center for Veterinary Biologics issued a conditional license to Zoetis for avian influenza vaccine to fight the H5N2 strain.
“A conditional license is used to meet an emergency condition, limited market, local situation or other special circumstance and is issued for a finite period of time,” according to Poultry World.
HPAI vaccine research at Zoetis has been going on for decades. Mahesh Kumar, Ph.D., senior vice president of global biologics research and development, said that his team has been working on a vaccine since this latest HPAI strain emerged.
“When a new strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza [HPAI] was identified in the U.S. in early 2022, our scientists immediately began work to update our previous avian influenza vaccine,” Kumar said.
RELATED: Poultry World has this piece on Zoetis’ efforts to develop a new HPAI vaccine and a veterinarian’s insight into the risks of dealing with avian influenza. Read that here.
As farmers wait for a possible vaccine that could better protect their hens from the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza, they look for other ways to keep the virus away. Josh Burkholder -- co-owner of The Egg Basket, his family farm in Macedonia, Illinois – is keeping his 10,000 chickens indoors.
He hopes that it will keep them away from wild birds that may carry the virus into his flock in southern Illinois.
The Missouri Department of Agriculture suspended poultry auctions and shows after the state confirmed HPAI infections in several counties.
Fortunately – at least so far – confirmed cases of HPAI in humans have been few. The USDA has confirmed about five dozen cases nationally, including one fatality of a person who had suffered other health challenges.
A new study from scientists at La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (LIMS) and the School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment are researching whether they have identified a possible defense against HPAI in humans.
The research gets pretty technical. Although, these are researchers, and it is what they do.
But the research paper’s first author, Dr. Emma Grant, summarized the findings. “T cells—our own immune cells that defend us against pathogens—can recognize viruses they've previously come into contact with. If we can use this knowledge to develop vaccines using the parts of the virus that T cells recognize, we might be able to protect ourselves from future flu mutations."
