Towards rabies elimination in the Asia-Pacific region: From theory to practice.

Rabies is a major neglected zoonotic disease and causes a substantial burden in the Asian region. Currently, Pacific Oceania is free of rabies but enzootic areas throughout southeast Asia represent a major risk of disease introduction to this region. On September 25-26, 2019, researchers, government officials and related stakeholders met at an IABS conference in Bangkok, Thailand to engage on the topic of human rabies mediated by dogs.

Development of a highly sensitive PCR/DNA chip method to detect mycoplasmas in a veterinary modified live vaccine.

Mycoplasmas are potential contaminants that introduce undesirable changes in mammalian cell cultures. They frequently contaminate cell substrates and other starting materials used for manufacturing cell-derived biologics, such as vaccines and pharmaceutical products. Mycoplasma purity testing of live vaccines, active ingredients, raw material, and seed lots is required during vaccine production.

Multivariate analysis of the immune response to a vaccine as an alternative to the repetition of animal challenge studies for vaccines with demonstrated efficacy.

The assessment of vaccine combinations, or the evaluation of the impact of minor modifications of one component in well-established vaccines, requires animal challenges in the absence of previously validated correlates of protection. As an alternative, we propose conducting a multivariate analysis of the specific immune response to the vaccine. This approach is consistent with the principles of the 3Rs (Refinement, Reduction and Replacement) and avoids repeating efficacy studies based on infectious challenges in vivo.