IVRI working on vaccine for bovine coronavirus

BAREILLY After successfully developing a vaccine to control classical swine fever last week, scientists at the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Bareilly

BAREILLY After successfully developing a vaccine to control classical swine fever last week, scientists at the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Bareilly are now working on a vaccine for bovine coronavirus.

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BCoV (bovine coronavirus) affects livestock and a vaccine for it, according to IVRI scientists, is available in the United States and some other countries but has to be imported and is very expensive. “We intend to develop our own cost-effective vaccine. It should be ready within a year,” said IVRI director RK Singh.

BCoV is a major cause of calf scours and winter dysentery in adult cows. Research and improvements in diagnostic testing increasingly indicate BCoV also plays a role as a primary viral agent in a significant percentage of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) cases, according to IVRI scientists.

The virus spreads in an animal after it drinks polluted water. Usually, the carriers of this virus are camels, cows, buffaloes and kittens. “It causes diarrhoea and could lead to death of the calves and impacts growth of cattle,” said Singh, adding that BCoV was prevalent across the country. Diarrohea weakens the immune system of the infected livestock and leads to death within a week.

He said the disease was detected in cattle a couple of years ago and ever since research on the virus was going on. “As of now, we cannot say for sure whether the (corona) virus, which is spreading in humans, is the same virus which is found in animals or something else. If it is spreading from animals to humans, then we will have to find out from which animals this virus is spreading in humans,” said Singh.

Conference
on challenges

A national conference on “Challenges and threats of microbes to animals and humans” was held at IVRI on Thursday. Commenting on the novel coronavirus (2019-NCoV) which has spread from China, Gurdial Singh, vice-chancellor, Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, said, “Novel coronavirus may have spread after consumption of wild bats. Unlike India, people in China consume raw meat and do not cook it properly.”

The conference was attended by more than 350 researchers from across the country involved in vaccine production.

In the inaugural session, many problems plaguing human and animal health were discussed with special emphasis on the spread of coronavirus. Speakers emphasized on the development of rapid onsite diagnostics and multivalent vaccines for various animal diseases.

Dr Rameshwar Singh, vice chancellor, Bihar Animal Sciences University, Patna was the guest of honor and in his address, he highlighted the impact of zoonotic infections on both human and animal health.

Dr Nagendra Sharma, former vice-chancellor of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu reminisced about the glorious contributions of IVRI in controlling various animal diseases at national and international level.

Dr. Rajkumar Singh, director cum vice-chancellor, IVRI, in his presidential address emphasized on development of vaccines for the emerging infectious diseases. He also advised house-to-work on probiotics and phage therapy to combat the threat of antimicrobial resistance.

During the inaugural session Dr Rameshwar Singh was honoured with lifetime achievement award. Dr Aniket Sanyal, joint director Bengaluru campus, IVRI, Dr V C Ingle, prof and Dr YPS Malik, national fellow, were bestowed with fellowship.