Wait! This isn’t a blog about another blah, blah, blah, SARS CoV2 vaccine… no way!
I’m REALLY bored of Covid-19… as I suspect you are too… so this week I’m going to write an update for a blog I wrote back in 2018. Do you remember 2018? Let me remind you:
I’m REALLY bored of Covid-19… as I suspect you are too… so this week I’m going to write an update for a blog I wrote back in 2018. Do you remember 2018? Let me remind you:
- The 2018 Winter Olympics were held in Pyeongchang, South Korea
- Dawn Sturgess was murdered, and Charlie Rowley, Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal were all poisoned with Novichok by Russian agents in Salisbury, UK
- White rhinos became functionally extinct in the wild when the last male died in Kenya, Africa
- Harry and Megan got married in Windsor, UK
- Baby elephant Anjan was born unexpectedly to Thi Hi Way at Chester Zoo, UK…
Anjan the baby elephant! (Photo: Chester Zoo)
And this wonderful baby elephant was the inspiration for my blog back in 2018 on an awful infection with an 85% mortality. Elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV), or Elephantid hepervirus 1, particularly affects captive bred elephants although it is increasingly being found in wild elephants too.
This week’s blog is about the start of the first vaccine trial against EEHV in elephants. The pilot study, announced last week, is the result of a collaboration between Chester Zoo and the University of Surrey (just down the road from where Nuts & Bolts are) as well as Dublin Zoo, Whipsnade Zoo, Blackpool Zoo and Woburn Safari Park.
Now, before I get to the good news, unfortunately there is a bit of sad news first. In September 2020 baby Anjan’s mother, Thi Hi Way, had to be put to sleep. She had been suffering badly from arthritis and despite treatment was starting to struggle. The zoo took a terribly hard decision; it sounds like Thi Hi Way was a really special part of their family. They didn’t know how old she was as she was born in Myanmar and only came to Chester Zoo as an older adult in 1991 after being rescued from a logging camp. She was however a Great Grandmother; having had a number of calves at Chester Zoo who went on to have calves of their own. She seems to have been regarded as a bit of a celebrity in the conservation world having taught zoos a lot about Asian elephants, and especially helped with the understanding of EEHV. Have I said I LOVE elephants?!
This week’s blog is about the start of the first vaccine trial against EEHV in elephants. The pilot study, announced last week, is the result of a collaboration between Chester Zoo and the University of Surrey (just down the road from where Nuts & Bolts are) as well as Dublin Zoo, Whipsnade Zoo, Blackpool Zoo and Woburn Safari Park.
Now, before I get to the good news, unfortunately there is a bit of sad news first. In September 2020 baby Anjan’s mother, Thi Hi Way, had to be put to sleep. She had been suffering badly from arthritis and despite treatment was starting to struggle. The zoo took a terribly hard decision; it sounds like Thi Hi Way was a really special part of their family. They didn’t know how old she was as she was born in Myanmar and only came to Chester Zoo as an older adult in 1991 after being rescued from a logging camp. She was however a Great Grandmother; having had a number of calves at Chester Zoo who went on to have calves of their own. She seems to have been regarded as a bit of a celebrity in the conservation world having taught zoos a lot about Asian elephants, and especially helped with the understanding of EEHV. Have I said I LOVE elephants?!
Anjan with his mother Thi Hi Way (Photo: Chester Zoo)
Spooler Alert; if you haven’t read the 2018 blog… Anjan didn’t get EEHV and appears to be doing very well HOWEVER his 5-year-old half-sister called Indali had a torrid time with EEHV … What?! Wait you said this blog was about a vaccine trial? “Tell me the good news!!” OK, OK, so what can be done?
The vaccine trial
Initially the trial began a while ago with a 20-year-old male elephant at Chester Zoo, called Aung Bo. He was the first to receive a new EEHV vaccine and apparently produced a really good immune response.
Dr Tanja Maehr, Lead Researcher at the University of Surrey and Chester Zoo Conservation Fellow, has said “This is a small step for vaccines and a large step for the world’s elephants.” (That must be saying something as I’ve seen how big elephant steps can be!)
The researchers are now in the process of developing the best strategy for a vaccination roll-out program; what dose to use, how many doses are needed, etc. Sound familiar? We went through all of this for Covid-19… shame the equivalent level of investment isn’t there for EEHV….
What is the vaccine?
The EEHV vaccine is a tried and tested vaccine strategy unlike the some of the Covid-19 ones using RNA. Basically, proteins from EEHV are combined with a non-pathogenic Vaccinia Virus (cow pox) which is then used to make the elephant’s immune system react to the EEHV proteins, so that if/when the immune system later comes into contact with the real EEHV virus and its proteins, it will be able to get rid of them before they cause disease. Similar to a vaccinated human reacting to Covid-19 spike protein.
We used cow pox as the “smallpox” vaccine to eradicate smallpox back in the 1970s; human Vaccinia Virus vaccine isn’t used much these days, however in the past it was used A LOT!!! It’s also where the term “vaccination” comes from; “vaccinia”.
The principal of the EEHV vaccine is similar to the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, where bits of the target pathogen are combined with a different non-pathogenic carrier virus in order to stimulate the immune response without causing the disease.
So, the vaccine should work in principle; let the trials begin!
Why are Aung Bo and the Hi Way herd so important?
The “Hi Way” herd (named after Anjan’s mother Thi Hi Way who was the matriarch of the herd) are the reason why the trial can go ahead. The herd is really cooperative with the keepers (all credit to the care from the keepers) and so they can carefully monitor the response to the vaccine. Apparently they use the combination of mutual respect, care and a big bag of elephant biscuits to be able to get blood samples from the elephants (now I like biscuits and these sound right up my street…anyone got a recipe?!).
The vaccine trial
Initially the trial began a while ago with a 20-year-old male elephant at Chester Zoo, called Aung Bo. He was the first to receive a new EEHV vaccine and apparently produced a really good immune response.
Dr Tanja Maehr, Lead Researcher at the University of Surrey and Chester Zoo Conservation Fellow, has said “This is a small step for vaccines and a large step for the world’s elephants.” (That must be saying something as I’ve seen how big elephant steps can be!)
The researchers are now in the process of developing the best strategy for a vaccination roll-out program; what dose to use, how many doses are needed, etc. Sound familiar? We went through all of this for Covid-19… shame the equivalent level of investment isn’t there for EEHV….
What is the vaccine?
The EEHV vaccine is a tried and tested vaccine strategy unlike the some of the Covid-19 ones using RNA. Basically, proteins from EEHV are combined with a non-pathogenic Vaccinia Virus (cow pox) which is then used to make the elephant’s immune system react to the EEHV proteins, so that if/when the immune system later comes into contact with the real EEHV virus and its proteins, it will be able to get rid of them before they cause disease. Similar to a vaccinated human reacting to Covid-19 spike protein.
We used cow pox as the “smallpox” vaccine to eradicate smallpox back in the 1970s; human Vaccinia Virus vaccine isn’t used much these days, however in the past it was used A LOT!!! It’s also where the term “vaccination” comes from; “vaccinia”.
The principal of the EEHV vaccine is similar to the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, where bits of the target pathogen are combined with a different non-pathogenic carrier virus in order to stimulate the immune response without causing the disease.
So, the vaccine should work in principle; let the trials begin!
Why are Aung Bo and the Hi Way herd so important?
The “Hi Way” herd (named after Anjan’s mother Thi Hi Way who was the matriarch of the herd) are the reason why the trial can go ahead. The herd is really cooperative with the keepers (all credit to the care from the keepers) and so they can carefully monitor the response to the vaccine. Apparently they use the combination of mutual respect, care and a big bag of elephant biscuits to be able to get blood samples from the elephants (now I like biscuits and these sound right up my street…anyone got a recipe?!).
20-year-old bull elephant Aung Bo lets the team take a blood sample from his ear… for a biscuit! (Photo: Chester Zoo)
So, what about poor Indali?! There was no vaccine outside the trial, so she was not vaccinated and became ill with EEHV (remember this has an 85% mortality!). Indali was treated with antivirals, immune boosters and… plasma therapy. This was derived from blood samples taken from Aung Bo! The vaccine trial elephant, Aung Bo, “donated” blood samples from which plasma containing antibodies were separated and given to Indali. This is basically giving Indali antibodies against EEHV even though her own immune system hasn’t yet come into contact with it. We do the same thing in human medicine, the most recent being the use of convalescent plasma from Covid-19 survivors being used to treat sick people with acute Covid-19 (spooky I blogged on Covid-19 plasma therapy too). Thankfully Indali survived and is also now doing well…
Indali after successful treatment for EEHV (Photo: Chester Zoo)
Wow! What a great story?! I love the crossover of principals between human and animal medicine and I really hope the vaccine trial is a success and the team are able to come up with a way of protecting these remarkable and special animals.
If you would like to help support the work Chester Zoo are doing for EEHV then you can find their donation page here: Never Forget.
If you would like to help support the work Chester Zoo are doing for EEHV then you can find their donation page here: Never Forget.
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