20040206A Microbiology team from the University of Navarra coordinates the European brucellosis vaccine project

The department of Microbiology of the University of Navarra coordinates a European project in search of a vaccine to eradicate brucellosis, an infection that passes from ruminants (sheep, cows, etc.) to humans. It is estimated that more than 80% of cases of this disease occur in undeveloped countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa, but it is also widespread in Mediterranean countries.

Eradication is carried out in ruminants, but current vaccines have several problems, such as the virulence they present for humans. This has led the European Union to search for a more advanced and reliable vaccine to avoid this risk.

Experiment on 100 animals

Dr. Ignacio Moriyón, coordinator of project, believes that the first experiments in sheep will soon be possible: "The first phase, the development engineering Genetics of suitable mutants and their evaluation in laboratory models, will be completed this spring and has given promising results. Around April, we will start experiments in sheep to first check certain results in the natural host and, later this year, we will already perform a controlled experiment on about 100 animals."

In his opinion, current vaccines do not offer sufficient guarantees, since, in addition to being dangerous for humans, "sometimes vaccinated animals become infected and it is not easy to distinguish them from healthy ones, which greatly complicates eradication".

The team, in which Dr. Ignacio López-Goñi and Dr. Maite Iriarte also participate, has been involved in this research for a year and a half and acts as coordinator for four other centers in Zaragoza, Belgium, France and Sweden.