University of Missouri researchers are working to protect the state’s $1.65 billion cattle industry by creating the first-ever vaccine to fight a deadly tick-borne disease. Researcher Roman Ganta said that bovine anaplasmosis, a common tick disease in Missouri, infects the red blood cells of cattle.
“It will change the way people raise cattle, raise meat and milk production as well as improve the wellbeing of many cattle farmers, especially in third world countries besides in the U.S. how the industry is impacted,” Ganta said.
There is currently no widely available vaccine for the disease that causes nearly $1 billion in losses worldwide every year due to reduced cattle production, treatment costs, and deaths.
But Ganta said that his vaccine works.
“We found out that the animals remained, all the cattle that we tested, remained healthy, whether the infection is coming from a mechanical route, which is the standard way many cattle get it in a cattle ranch, or by tick transmission,” he explained.
It is a tick-borne bacterial disease that mostly affects cattle older than two years with symptoms including jaundice, miscarriage, weight loss, a decline in meat and milk production, and possible death.
“We tested about close to a thousand animals,” he said. “The infection prevalence is very high, which is about 50% of the cattle. It varies significantly from one cattle ranch to the other, but the fact remains that this disease has remained a high problem.”
Ganta said the vaccine will need to receive USDA approval before it can be sold. He said if the testing and approval process goes well, he’s optimistic it will be available to cattle producers by 2030.
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