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Researchers have achieved a major advance in creating a novel vaccine to prevent a deadly virus that targets young elephants.

The inoculation, produced by an international research team, aims to stop the severe illness caused by EEHV, which is currently a leading cause of death in young Asian elephants.

In trials that included adult elephants at Chester Zoo, the vaccine was found to be safe and, crucially, to activate components of the body's defenses that assists in fighting viruses.

A lead scientist described this as "a pivotal step in our work to safeguard Asian elephants".

It is anticipated that the result of this first-of-its-kind study will pave the way to averting the fatalities of young elephants from the harmful disease caused by this virus.

Severe Consequences

EEHV has had a especially destructive effect in zoos. At Chester Zoo alone, multiple young elephants have succumbed to it over the last decade. It has additionally been detected in natural populations and in certain sanctuaries and elephant orphanages.

It causes a bleeding disorder - unchecked bleeding that can be deadly within 24 hours. It results in death in over eighty percent of instances in young elephants.

Comprehending the Danger

Why EEHV can be so dangerous is still unclear. Many adult elephants host the virus - seemingly with no adverse effects on their health. But it is thought that juvenile elephants are particularly vulnerable when they are being weaned, and when the protective defenses from the maternal nutrition decrease.

At this phase, a calf's immune system is in a precarious balance and it can become overwhelmed. "It may lead to extremely serious disease," a lead conservation scientist stated.

"It impacts wild elephants, but we don't have an exact number of how many deaths in total it has resulted in. For elephants in human care though, there have been over a hundred deaths."

Immunization Creation

The scientific group, headed by veterinary scientists, developed the novel vaccine using a proven "framework". Basically, the basic structure of this vaccine is the same to one commonly employed to vaccinate elephants against a virus called cowpox.

The scientists seeded this vaccine structure with components from EEHV - harmless parts of the virus that the animal's defense system might recognise and respond to.

In a world-first experiment, the team evaluated the new vaccine in three fit, mature elephants at Chester Zoo, then examined blood tests from the innoculated animals.

The lead researcher stated that the results, released in a research publication, were "better than we had hoped for".

"They showed, clearly that the vaccine was able to activate the production of immune cells, that are crucial to combating virus attacks."

Next Phases

The subsequent phase for the scientists is to test the vaccine in younger elephants, which are the animals most at risk to severe disease.

The present vaccination involves four shots to be administered, so an additional objective is to work out if the equivalent effective dose can be given in a simpler way - possibly with fewer jabs.

Dr Edwards explained: "Ultimately we aim to use this vaccine in the elephants that are at risk, so we need to ensure that we can deliver it to where it's needed."

The project lead added: "We believe this is a major advancement, and not just solely for the elephants, but because it additionally shows that you can develop and apply vaccines to assist threatened animals."