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The Ethiopian wolf is the most endangered carnivore in Africa. It is chiefly threatened by rabies outbreaks that occur every 5-10 years with a mortality rate of up to 77% in affected populations. Dr Claudio Sillero-Zubiri and colleagues have developed a novel low-coverage vaccination strategy, now at the heart of a strategic plan to protect this species from extinction. Containment of rabies through a cordon sanitaire protects these rare wolves beyond the initial outbreak, offering a potential model for wildlife disease management elsewhere, and significant socio-economic and health benefits for the communities living in and around wolf areas.
Rabies is the most lethal known infectious disease and kills 55,000 people annually worldwide, mainly in Africa and Asia; however, it is almost entirely preventable. Effective vaccines for animals and humans are available, but their use is limited by cost and accessibility. Research undertaken at the University of Glasgow by Professor Sarah Cleaveland and her team has led to the development and adoption of new health and veterinary policies in East Africa, transforming research findings into practical strategies for rabies prevention and control. These strategies reduce the cost of medical treatment (such as post-exposure prophylaxis), increase its effectiveness (by improving compliance) and eliminate the barriers to receiving treatment in some of the world's most disadvantaged communities. Research by the Glasgow team on dog vaccination strategies has also made a major contribution to the recognition by the World Health Organization (WHO) that global canine rabies elimination is feasible, with national and global strategies now focussing on dog vaccination as a cost effective means of reducing human rabies deaths.
Research by G Favato of Kingston University established that it is cost-effective to vaccinate males against the HPV virus, overturning previous studies that had suggested such vaccination was not cost-effective.
This research was presented to the Italian Agency for Drug Approval (AIFA). As a result, AIFA changed its vaccination policy for HPV, removing its previous restriction of vaccination to females only and approving vaccination also for males.
The Italian regions of Emilia-Romagna and Sicily have now begun voluntary vaccination programmes for males under 26, with economic benefits amounting to €98.9 million. In addition, Emilia-Romagna has introduced a vaccination programme for HIV-infected males under 26, providing health benefits for a high-risk sub-population.
Canine osteoarthritis affects up to 20% of adult dogs and is of worldwide welfare importance. Research by the University of Liverpool (UoL) (with collaborators) has led to profound changes in the ways in which veterinarians manage canine and feline osteoarthritis. Molecular insights have led to new prescription diets that enable veterinarians to improve the health and wellbeing of companion animals and have provided economic impact through sales of these prescription diets. In addition, a new clinical metrology instrument (`Liverpool Osteoarthritis in Dogs' or "LOAD") for assessment of canine osteoarthritis by veterinarians and owners has changed veterinary practice through improved diagnosis, monitoring and management of dogs with osteoarthritis. LOAD has been licensed on a global basis to a pharmaceutical company (Novartis Animal Health).