Design and immunological evaluation of two-component protein nanoparticle vaccines for East Coast fever.

Nanoparticle vaccines usually prime stronger immune responses than soluble antigens. Within this class of subunit vaccines, the recent development of computationally designed self-assembling two-component protein nanoparticle scaffolds provides a powerful and versatile platform for displaying multiple copies of one or more antigens. Here we report the generation of three different nanoparticle immunogens displaying 60 copies of p67C, an 80 amino acid polypeptide from a candidate vaccine antigen of , and their immunogenicity in cattle.

Digital Extension Interactive Voice Response (IVR) mLearning: Lessons Learnt From Uganda Pig Value Chain.

We assessed the effectiveness of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology in delivering biosecurity messages for the control of African swine fever (ASF) in Uganda using a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 408 smallholder pig farmers. Our results show that IVR technology significantly improved knowledge of farmers who had not been exposed to training on biosecurity. Furthermore, it enhanced knowledge for farmers who had received face-to-face (f2f) training in biosecurity.

Reproduction of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia via aerosol-based challenge with Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides.

Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) is a respiratory disease caused by Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides. Infection occurs via Mycoplasma-containing droplets and therefore requires close contact between animals.

Parasite co-infections and their impact on survival of indigenous cattle.

In natural populations, individuals may be infected with multiple distinct pathogens at a time. These pathogens may act independently or interact with each other and the host through various mechanisms, with resultant varying outcomes on host health and survival. To study effects of pathogens and their interactions on host survival, we followed 548 zebu cattle during their first year of life, determining their infection and clinical status every 5 weeks.

Design and descriptive epidemiology of the Infectious Diseases of East African Livestock (IDEAL) project, a longitudinal calf cohort study in western Kenya.

Background: There is a widely recognised lack of baseline epidemiological data on the dynamics and impacts of infectious cattle diseases in east Africa. The Infectious Diseases of East African Livestock (IDEAL) project is an epidemiological study of cattle health in western Kenya with the aim of providing baseline epidemiological data, investigating the impact of different infections on key responses such as growth, mortality and morbidity, the additive and/or multiplicative effects of co-infections, and the influence of management and genetic factors.A longitudinal cohort study of newborn calves was conducted in western Kenya between 2007-2009.