Peru, which is home to the world鈥檚 largest population of alpacas, hopes to develop a vaccine to prevent and control acute forms of the disease in the animals.
Many young alpacas succumb to Pasteurella multocida pneumonia and, according to Abelardo Lenin Maturrano Hern谩ndez, until now 鈥渢here is no research on a specific vaccine to combat the effects of this disease in alpacas鈥.
Dr Hern谩ndez is the research project coordinator of a programme based at the National University of San Marcos, and partly funded by Peru鈥檚 production ministry through its Innovate Peru Program, which aims to develop the vaccine for young and baby alpacas.
鈥淲e produced a complete genome sequence of Pasteurella multocida to develop an effective solution against pneumonia in alpacas,鈥 explained Dr Hern谩ndez, and then 鈥渋nitiated a search for virulence and/or pathogenicity factors that would act as immunogens鈥.
By using 鈥渞everse vaccinology techniques鈥, they were able to create a recombinant vaccine designed to bolster alpacas鈥 defences against bacterial pathogens causing the respiratory illness.
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