Experience in control of avian influenza in Africa.

The first outbreak of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Africa was confirmed at Kaduna, Nigeria, on 8 February 2006. Within three months, seven other countries on the continent, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Niger and Sudan, were infected. More recently Ghana and Togo became infected.

Evaluation of the xerovac process for the preparation of heat tolerant contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) vaccine.

The study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the xerovac process as a method for preparing contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) vaccine with increased heat resistance. The thermo-protective effects of various concentrations of trehalose in mycoplasma growth medium, various concentrations of trehalose in the dehydration stabilizer and the importance of some divalent cations were assessed. The results obtained indicate that a rapid dehydration of CBPP vaccine following the xerovac method and in an excipient composed of a high concentration of trehalose, renders the product more heat tolerant than a similar vaccine prepared using a regular or an extended freeze drying regime.

Re-suspension of T(1)44 vaccine cultures of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp mycoides SC in 1 molar MgSO(4) causes a drop in pH and a rapid reduction in titre.

The effect of reconstituting freeze-dried vaccine cultures of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides small colony biotype (MmmSC) strain T(1)44 grown in standard vaccine medium using variable quantities of un-buffered solutions of 1 M MgSO(4) (the current O.I.

Xerovac: an ultra rapid method for the dehydration and preservation of live attenuated Rinderpest and Peste des Petits ruminants vaccines.

The accepted procedure for the long-term preservation of live viruses and bacteria in vaccines has been lyophilisation. We show that thermolabile viruses can be dehydrated in vitro, within 18 h, in an excipient containing trehalose. We further demonstrate that in the resulting dehydrated state, where the viruses are captive in a metastable glass composed of trehalose, they are capable of resisting 45 degrees C for a period of 14 days with minimal loss of potency.

Late lesions of experimental contagious caprine pleuropneumonia caused by Mycoplasma capricolum ssp. capripneumoniae.

A clinical, bacteriological, serological and patho-anatomical study was carried out on 12 goats surviving the acute stage of contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP), experimentally produced with Mycoplasma capricolum ssp. capripneumoniae (M. capripneumoniae), with the major aims of investigating the chronic stage of the disease and elucidating the possibility of a carrier state beyond the acute fulminant phase.