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(part 1: "status of potential new vaccine") |
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| Anaplasmosis is a disease of cattle that is caused by a parasite that
attacks the red blood cells. The disease can cause extreme anemia
and eventually death in many animals. Those that contract the disease
and live are carriers that look and perform in a healthy manner, but they
may serve as a source of infection to non-carrier animals in the herd.
Anaplasmosis, generally has its most devastating affect on adult animals.
Very young animals may contract the disease, never show signs of illness,
and become carriers for life. Anaplasmosis is spread from animal
to animal by the transfer of a small amount of blood from one animal to
the next. Blood consuming arthropods such as ticks and horseflies
are most often the vectors for the infected red blood cells. However,
cattle management equipment used by humans can certainly spread anaplasmosis.
Injection needles, castrating devices, and dehorners often are the vectors
for anaplasmosis in the herd.
Vaccines have been developed in the past to protect cattle against anaplasmosis. However each product used had considerable drawbacks, resulting in the present situation where none are currently on the market. Oklahoma State University researchers have worked for several years to develop a new and different kind of vaccine for anaplasmosis in cattle. Dr. Katherine Kocan, professor of veterinary pathology at Oklahoma State University's College of Veterinary Medicine has led a team in the latest effort to find a protective vaccine against the disease. During the summer of 2000, OSU has signed a licensing agreement with an Iowa based laboratory that commercially produces vaccines. The OSU scientists are currently field testing a product that is grown in tick cell cultures. They believe that this will alleviate some of the problems encountered by previous vaccines. The older vaccine was developed from cells in cattle and could cause a severe anemia in calves nursing immunized cows. The new vaccine is being developed in the Oklahoma region, however to insure that it will work nationwide, the researchers are collecting ticks from regions such as Florida and Virginia. Work is yet to done to achieve a marketable vaccine. No definite
timeline can be established as to when all of the testing is done and approved.
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