Ugandan livestock farmers are set to reap big when the National Livestock Resources Research Institute (NaLIRRI) completes final trials of the anti-tick vaccine within the next few months.
Dr Fredrick Kabi, the lead researcher on the vaccine at NaLIRRI, says the process is moving smoothly and before the end of the year, livestock diseases caused by ticks will be a thing of the past.
“It has taken us more than six years of immense research into getting rid of the ticks that transmit East Coast fever to livestock and I can assure all trials so far have returned positive results. The ticks keep mutating and of late had become resistant to acaricides but with this vaccine, livestock is going be safe,” he says.
Tick vaccine process so far
Dr Kabi explains that the development of the vaccine started with pre-clinical trial phase where his team assessed the potential toxicity of the new vaccine using livestock cell cultures.
“What followed was the clinical trial stage which we successfully tested on a small group of healthy animals,” he says.
At the moment, Dr Kabi says his team is meeting various stakeholders such as the National Council for Science and Technology and the directorate of Livestock Health in the ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) to prepare a multi-locational trial across the country.
“In September, we are going to launch the field geographical trial countrywide. We have selected the farmers to participate in the trial but between now at the start, we are going to train and explain to them the vaccine and its expectations,” he says.
Should all go according to plan, Dr Kabi and his team will only be left with the registration of the vaccine with the National Drug Authority (NDA) after getting the nod from the ministry’s directorate of Livestock Health and the National Biosafety Committee, among others.
The breakthrough will be a huge boost to the livestock sub-sector, especially as the country embarks on commercial exportation of livestock products.
According to a 2019 report by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), livestock diseases spread by ticks greatly stunted animal growth on top of lowering the quality of livestock products. This is estimated to have cost billions of shillings to the livestock sector.
Original Source: The observer.ug
