Vaccine Can Protect Dogs From Valley Fever, Says a Study from Arizona University

Arizona, US: A study conducted by the University of Arizona College of Medicine—Tucson found that a canine vaccine for Valley fever provides a high level of protection against Coccidioides posadasii, the fungus that causes the disease. Developing a potential canine vaccination is a promising sign that a human vaccine is on the way.

Valley fever, also known as coccidioidomycosis, is a lung disease caused by inhaling airborne particles of the fungus Coccidioides, which can be found in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Valley fever is particularly contagious among dogs, and it is projected that it costs Arizona dog owners around $60 million per year.

According to US Department of Agriculture rules, new veterinary vaccinations must be verified as safe and efficacious in the target species. The results of the first trial to look into a possible Valley fever vaccine in dogs were promising.

According to the study, Valley fever was averted or considerably reduced in dogs who got an experimental vaccine dose accompanied by a booster 28 days later. In addition, any illness signs observed were so minor that they were clinically insignificant.

Researchers also discovered that a single immunization without a booster dose did not provide protection against Valley fever, demonstrating the importance of a booster shot. All of the dogs well tolerated the vaccine.

The study was published in the Vaccine journal. Lisa Shubitz is a research scientist at the Valley Fever Center for Excellence. She works alongside Galgiani and co-author Marc Orbach, a plant pathologist at the University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. They developed delta cps-1 through genetic research. The specific strain of Coccidioides used to generate the live vaccine employed in this investigation appears not to cause disease.

For decades, the Valley Fever Center for Excellence has worked to develop an effective vaccination to eradicate Valley fever in canines. This research is a significant step toward achieving the licensing standards for a dog vaccine.

Anivive Lifesciences in Long Beach, California, Colorado State University, and the University of Queensland in Australia collaborated on the study and are now ready to move forward.

As a canine vaccine approaches commercialization, scientists will use this data to estimate possible vaccine responses in humans. Anivive Life Sciences has begun the vaccine registration procedure in the United States with the Center for Veterinary Biologics and is working on a human vaccine with Crozet BioPharma.

It’s unclear how long immunity will continue because this is the first trial of its kind. However, this is a subject that will most likely be resolved once an approved vaccination is made accessible to veterinarians. Even yet, if a canine vaccination proves to be effective, it will pave the path for more funding and research towards a human vaccine, which is critically required in some parts of the world.

While half of those infected with Valley fever go unnoticed, the others develop a weeks-to-months-long respiratory infection that affects around 1% of the population in Arizona and central California each year. Complications affect 10% of every 100,000 patients, resulting in long-term treatment and medical care, lifelong disability, or death. In addition, in California and Arizona, the disease has an annual impact on the economy of about $1.5 billion.

Source: News Arizona