LSU AgCenter cattle vaccine could go into production in 2013

Published Jul 31, 2012 at 3:00 pm (Updated Jul 31, 2012)

A vaccine made by University Products that protects cattle from anaplasmosis, a disease that destroys red blood cells, could go into production at a Louisiana laboratory within a year, says veterinary scientist Gene Luther of the LSU AgCenter. Currently no USDA-licensed biologic facility exists in Louisiana. The vaccine is now made in an LSU AgCenter laboratory. Luther and scientists Lewis Hart and William Todd developed the "killed vaccine," which means it uses the dead organism to create immunity in cattle. University Products is less than a month away from completing the final test needed to start the licensing procedure, the company says. With the license and approved laboratory, the vaccine could be available worldwide. Just last week Missouri and Kentucky joined a list of 15 other states—Arkansas, California, Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin—and the territory of Puerto Rico that have been approved by the USDA for sales of the vaccine. Anaplasmosis costs U.S. cattle and dairy producers an estimated $300 million a year. The cause of it is an intracellular microorganism that destroys red blood cells in cattle, occurring primarily in warm tropical and subtropical areas, Luther says. Once confined to the Gulf and West coasts in the United States, it has spread to other parts of the country with the movement and distribution of cattle. For more information, go to anaplasmosis.com.