3.4.1.8 Develop a vaccine for management of mastitis in camels
Camels (Camelus dromedaries) are the most important dairy animals in the vast semi-arid lands of the Greater Horn of Africa with an estimated population of 15 million in North East Africa, primarily Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia. ASAL APRP was involved in activities to develop a camel mastitis vaccine whose adoption will save the pastoralists an estimated Ksh 3.7billion worth of milk annually in milk losses, thus addressing the economic pillar in Kenya vision 2030. Under ASAL APRP, the following achievements were realized: Isolation of S. agalactiae from camel milk and their antibiotic sensitivity profiles, full genome sequencing and annotation of one isolate of S. agalactiae from a positive case, and bioinformatics analysis of the genome for immunogenic vaccine targets. In order to develop a vaccine with wider geographic coverage, it is important to include more S. agalactiae isolates from other regions. This has not been done and requires isolation, sequencing and bioinformatics analysis to confirm diversity or lack of it. When the laboratory phase is completed, animal trials using candidate vaccine proteins will be undertaken paving the way for registration and commercialization of a vaccine. The following sub-activities are proposed:
- Collection and sequencing of different S. agalactiae isolates
- Bioinformatics analysis for immunogenic targets
- Recombinant protein production and characterization (screening by immunoassays)
- Animal trials of recombinant proteins for protection
- Vaccine production process development, and commercialization