March 05, 2018
Safety Analysis of Leishmania Vaccine Used in a Randomized Canine Vaccine/Immunotherapy Trial
In Leishmania infantum–endemic countries, controlling infection within dogs, the domestic reservoir, is critical to public health. There is a need for safe vaccines that prevent canine progression with disease and transmission to others. Protective vaccination against Leishmania requires mounting a strong, inflammatory, Type 1 response. Three commercially available canine vaccines on the global veterinary market use saponin or inflammatory antigen components (Letifend) as a strong pro-inflammatory adjuvant. There is very little information detailing safety of saponin as an adjuvant in field trials. Safety analyses for the use of vaccine as an immunotherapeutic in asymptomatically infected animals are completely lacking. Leishmania infantum, the causative agent of canine leishmaniasis, is enzootic within U.S. hunting hounds. We assessed the safety of LeishTec® after use in dogs from two different clinical states: 1) without clinical signs and tested negative on polymerase chain reaction and serology or 2) without clinical signs and positive for at least one Leishmania diagnostic test. Vaccine safety was assessed after all three vaccinations to quantify the number and severity of adverse events. Vaccinated animals had an adverse event rate of 3.09%, whereas placebo animals had 0.68%. Receiving vaccine was correlated with the occurrence of mild, site-specific, reactions. Occurrence of severe adverse events was not associated with having received vaccine. Infected, asymptomatic animals did not have a higher rate of adverse events. Use of vaccination is, therefore, likely to be safe in infected, asymptomatic animals.
Read the full article in The American of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
More from CNAS
-
Swarms over the Strait
Executive Summary Drones have transformed battlefields in Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Ukraine, but in a companion report, Evolution Not Revolution: Drone Warfare in Russia’s ...
By Stacie Pettyjohn, Hannah Dennis & Molly Campbell
-
Differentiating Innovation: From Performance Art to Production Scale
The Department of Defense has an innovation problem, and it’s not the one you are probably thinking about. Certainly, the Department needs to improve its ability to move with ...
By Andrew Metrick
-
The Pentagon Isn’t Buying Enough Ammo
Even in today’s constrained budget environment, the U.S. Defense Department needs to do more to prioritize munitions buys and prove it has learned the lessons of Ukraine....
By Stacie Pettyjohn & Hannah Dennis
-
Space to Grow
Executive Summary In the more than 50 years since the first satellite launch, space has become irrevocably intertwined with the American way of life and the American way of wa...
By Hannah Dennis