WASHINGTON: Dog lovers, rejoice! Scientists have for the first time developed two new vaccines for canine influenza that may not only protect your furry friends but also keep you safe from the infection.
Dogs that have been infected with multiple influenza viruses have the potential to act as “mixing vessels” and generate new flu strains that could infect people, researchers said.
Today, veterinarians use vaccines that include inactivated or killed flu virus, but experts say they provide short-term, limited protection.
Scientists led by Luis Martinez-Sobrido from University of Rochester in the US created two “live-attenuated” vaccines against H3N8 canine influenza virus, which is currently circulating in dogs in the US.
Past research shows that live-attenuated vaccines, made from live flu virus that is dampened down so that it does not cause the flu, provide better immune responses and longer periods of protection.
Researchers used a genetic engineering technique called reserve genetics to create a live vaccine that replicates in the nose, but not in the lungs.
The nose is where the virus first enters a dog’s body, so generating an immune response there could stop the virus in its tracks.
If the vaccine were to get into the lungs it could create unwanted inflammation in response to the live virus.
The study found the live vaccine was safe and able to induce better immune protection against H3N8 canine influenza virus in mice and dog tracheal cells than a commercially available inactivated vaccine.
In a second study the team used reserve genetics to remove a protein called NS1 from H3N8 canine influenza virus.
Previous studies have shown that deleting the NS1 viral protein significantly weakens flu viruses so that they elicit an immune response but don’t cause illness.
This approach has been used with human, swine and equine flu viruses to generate potential vaccines and was also safe and more effective than a traditional inactivated H3N8 influenza vaccine in mice and dog tracheal cells.
As many dog owners and animal lovers are in close contact with dogs on a regular basis, Martinez-Sobrido believes its best to prevent dogs from getting the flu in the first place.
The team is using this research to tackle other dog flu viruses, too. They have used the safety of these approaches to engineer a live-attenuated vaccine for the H3N2 canine influenza virus, which was introduced in the US in 2015.
Early results show that similar to the H3N8 vaccine, the H3N2 live-attenuated vaccine is able to protect against the H3N2 canine influenza virus and is more effective than the only currently available inactivated vaccine.
The study was published in the Journal of Virology. (AGENCIES)
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