F.L. Musisi
East Coast Fever Vaccine Production and Quality Control Project
P.O. Box 30750
Lilongwe 3, Malawi
Four regional centres to control tick-borne diseases and their vectors have been proposed for Africa. It is believed that these regional centres will complement the work of the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases (ILRAD), located in Nairobi, Kenya. ILRAD was established in 1973 with a mandate to develop effective control measures for livestock diseases that seriously limit world food production. Its research programme focuses on African animal trypanosomiasis and East Coast fever, a form of theileriosis. ILRAD is expected to liaise with and disseminate its findings to workers in the field who will apply those findings. Most ordinary laboratories are not equipped to conduct the basic research on which ILRAD concentrates.
At the same time, it is believed that expertise should not be concentrated in one laboratory, country or area of the region. The report of the third Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations expert consultation on research on tick-borne diseases and their vectors noted that it is neither possible nor desirable to concentrate all expertise at the proposed regional centres in Khartoum, Zaria, Dakar and Lilongwe. It was suggested that the expertise be spread over the countries in each region. These centres were and are still envisaged to embrace the whole spectrum of economically important tick-borne diseases and their vectors.
The proposed regional centres, to be based at already-existing laboratories, will train personnel and conduct applied research in controlling ticks and tick-borne diseases. The centres will cover various aspects of tick control - including dip management, acaricide chemistry and acaricide resistance testing - as well as tick-borne disease control, including epidemiology and use of the immunization-and-treatment method against the economically important diseases.
More specifically, the centres will concentrate on the following:
a) production and good control of biologicalsb) provision of biologicals
c) training in routine techniques and applied research
d) applied research
e) liaison with governments in the region and national and international institutes on the use of facilities for training, the exchange of information and biological materials, and the formulation or modification of project proposals
f) liaison with donors and executing agencies for programmes and projects
To illustrate the above, let us look at the ongoing East Coast Fever Vaccine Production and Quality Control Project in Malawi. This project pays special attention to the following:
a) the production of good-quality stabilates for immunizationb) the improvement of the infection-and-treatment method of immunization against East Coast fever, including standardizing the infectivity and dosage of stabilates and drugs, testing the efficacy of new drugs and formulations, determining the optimal age of cattle for immunization and determining the best methods of producing, storing and distributing stabilates and of preventing their contamination by pathogenic micro-organisms
c) the isolation of breakthrough parasites and characterization of the isolates in vitro and in vivo in collaboration with other institutions, such as ILRAD
d) assistance with bulk stabilate preparation and titration of confirmed breakthrough parasites for incorporation into national vaccination programmes
e) assistance with training staff from countries in the ECF-affected region in field immunization and with monitoring immunized animals
f) acting as a centre to give advice on immunization procedures, to help monitor ECF-immunized cattle in the region and to co-ordinate immunization against ECF, babesiosis, anaplasmosis and heartwater
It is believed that the regional centres will complement efforts being made by national and international laboratories towards developing effective control measures against tick-borne diseases and their vectors in the following ways: by producing and providing good-quality biologicals, by co-ordinating the distribution of the materials, by training personnel in control methods, by applying research results and by disseminating information.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work is supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations/Netherlands Project GCP/RAF/247/NET.
