UQ’s Jody Hobson-Peters said the new vaccine would help keep the virus at bay.
“When pigs are bitten by virus-carrying mosquitoes the virus is amplified, increasing the risk to people who may be bitten by a mosquito,” Dr Hobson-Peters said.
“By vaccinating pigs and stopping them from contracting the virus we’ll help stop this pathway to humans — hopefully saving lives as well as keeping pigs healthy.”
UQ-developed chimera virus technology was used to make a ‘hybrid’ version of the virus, using a harmless-to-humans, mosquito-only Australian virus — the Binjari virus.
“The resulting chimeric — or hybrid — virus looks identical to JEV but can only grow in mosquito cells and also happens to be dead in this vaccine, so is very safe to use,” Dr Hobson-Peters said.
“When injected into pigs — or other species — the hybrid virus is recognised as JEV by the immune system which generates antibodies and provides immunity.
“We’re hoping it will be developed into a JEV vaccine for humans and a version for horses, which can also suffer from JEV-induced neurological symptoms.”
The project was supported by Australian Pork Limited, with recent efficacy trials conducted on pigs.
UQ’s Professor Roy Hall said the vaccine performed extremely well.
“More than 90 per cent of the young pigs in the trial were protected from JEV infection, and we expect the same in other species like humans and horses,” Prof Hall said.
“The researchers are now working with veterinary company Treidlia Biovet on manufacturing the vaccine so it can undergo safety trials on a larger scale.
“Pending successful outcomes, we hope to roll the vaccine out commercially later in 2023 — a fantastic outcome.”
20°C