By: Azman Zakaria

Photo: Noor Azreen Awang

SERDANG: The researchers from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) have succeeded in producing a new-generation vaccine that can provide full protection against virulent genotype VII ND virus to control the outbreak of Newcastle Disease (ND).

The Genotype-Matched Vaccine was successfully developed through reverse genetic technology, after more than five years of research under the Higher Institution Centres of Excellence (HICoE), Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education.

The vaccine innovation project for Newcastle Disease (ND) was led by Prof. Dr. Abdul Rahman Omar from the Institute of Bioscience (IBS) and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, UPM.

The results obtained from IBS in the courses of safety testing done with the cooperation of Malaysian Vaccines and Pharmaceuticals Sdn Bhd (MVP) had proven that the vaccine is stable and will not cause any adverse reactions and safe to be used in one-day-old chicks.

“Chicks which have been inoculated once with the vaccine elicit high antibody level after three weeks are able to provide full protection against genotype VII disease challenge and virus shedding,” he said.

Prof. Dr. Abdul Rahman also said ND, which is caused by Newcastle disease virus (NDV), is a highly contagious disease that causes devastating economic losses to the poultry industry worldwide.

He mentioned the virulent genotype VII NDV is the predominant NDV strain circulating in Malaysia and many other countries in Asia since ten years ago.

According to him, the main strategy to control the disease is by using different vaccines that have been developed for more than six decades ago.

“However, the current vaccines are often not able to provide complete protection,” he added. - UPM

Date of Input: 03/06/2020 | Updated: 03/06/2020 | hairul_nizam