Faster method to fight Bluetongue virus developed

British researchers have developed a faster method of producing an effective vaccine for the devastating animal disease caused by the Bluetongue virus.
Insects are the carrier of the Bluetongue virus that infects cattle, sheep and some other wild ruminants.
Infected animals experience a range of symptoms, which are fatal in some cases. There are also indirect impacts including weight loss and reduced milk production.
The new and cost effective method allows the production of a reliable type of inactivated vaccine using a "synthetic biology" approach, a study done by scientists from the University of Glasgow, in collaboration with Merial Animal Health reported.

This method doesn't rely on the use of live, infectious virus and could mean that it is safer than other types of vaccines.
The "synthetic" viral particles are created rapidly in the laboratory using sequence information from the genetic material of the virus, the study reported.

Synthetic vaccines can cure the animal 6 months faster than the traditional medicine, it said.
This breakthrough means that a reliable product could become available more quickly following the detection of an outbreak caused by a newly emerging BTV strain.
Professor Massimo Palmarini, Director of the MRC University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research and lead researcher said: overall, this vaccine platform can significantly reduce the time taken from the identification of newly emerging BTV strains to the development and production of new effective vaccines."

"They can be brought to the market more quickly but with the same level of quality and reliability as traditional vaccines. This is a big step towards a more sustainable, effective and rapid method of disease prevention," Palmarini said.
Previous prevention measures include culling of animals and use of inactivated vaccines which contain viruses that have been killed by chemical methods.
However, despite being effective, they only offer protection against a specific strain of the virus.