Project description
New vaccine for Brucellosis safe for humans
Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease which ranks consistently among the top health problems in the world and one of the most costly. This devastating disease propagates very easily among animals, which infect humans, and it is a dangerous and chronic disease very difficult to treat. Main transmitters are cows and sheep and goats, so animal vaccination is the best strategy to avoid human infections. The problem is that existing vaccines, on the markets since the 50’s, have some serious limitations including residual virulence for animals and humans. This EU-funded BGV1 project aims to solve those drawbacks, allowing mass vaccination of any animal at any time, which is crucial in case of an outbreak or in case of an intended attack to human health; and by solving the DIVA problem, which will allow millions of healthy animals stay away from unfair quarantines and culling, allowing huge savings of money and suffering to governments and farmers not only in the developing word, but also in developed areas like the Mediterranean region.
Objective
Brucellosis is the world’s most widespread zoonotic disease. It is a global problem but most severely affects poor livestock keepers in the developing world because of its impacts on human and animal health and livelihoods. Brucellosis is endemic in most of Asia, Africa and Latin America and is prevalent in the EU Mediterranean regions. Currently vaccines for Brucellosis, around since the 1950s, suffer from serious safety drawbacks mainly due to residual virulence for animals and humans. Combined with rising antibiotic resistance, their use is relatively limited.
GreenVac is developing BGV1, the first vaccine in over 60 years against Brucella melitensis in small ruminants that overcomes the main drawbacks of existing vaccines. BGV1 has been designed to a) be avirulent for animals, b) eliminate interference with diagnostic tests after vaccination, c) have low potential transmissibility to humans and, d) be treatable with standard antibiotics. BGV1 is a strong candidate to replace the classic virulent vaccine, exhibiting a safe profile with an enhanced protective efficacy, no residual virulence and minimal serodiagnostic interference.
A successful BGV1 EU-project will allow, for the first time, mass vaccination of any animal at any time (including pregnant and lactating animals), which is a radical paradigm shift in Brucellosis control and eradication. The reduction of B. melitensis outbreaks and infection rate in animals will generate €3.81bn in cumulative economic benefits for users by 2029 by evading unnecessary diagnostics costs and losses caused by the infection. It will lead to a lower disease incidence in humans amidst ever rising globalisation and bioterrorism threats to anyone, anywhere. BGV1 will contribute to the objectives of the One Health Initiative: One World, One Health, One Medicine to improve the lives of all species through the integration of human medicine, veterinary medicine and environmental science.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- agricultural sciencesveterinary sciences
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugsvaccines
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugsantibiotics
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencespublic healthepidemiologyzoonosis
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacydrug resistanceantibiotic resistance
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Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
31192 Mutilva
Spain
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.