A Nipah vaccine to eliminate porcine reservoirs and safeguard human health

Nipah virus (NiV) causes a severe and often fatal neurological disease in humans. Whilst fruit bats are considered the natural reservoir, NiV also infects pigs and may cause an unapparent or mild disease. Direct pig-to-human transmission was responsible for the first and still most devastating NiV outbreaks in Malaysia and Singapore in 1998-99, with nearly 300 human cases and over 100 fatalities. Pigs therefore play a key role in the epidemiology of NiV by acting as an ‘amplifying’ host. The outbreak in Singapore ended with the prohibition of pig imports from Malaysia and the Malaysian outbreak was ended by culling 45% of the country’s pig population. The NiV outbreak incurred significant economic costs and long-term damage to the Malaysian pig industry: US$582 million in direct costs and lost market revenue, including US$97 million in compensation to farmers for the 1.1 million pigs slaughtered and 36,000 jobs lost. To this date, Malaysian pig farming is only permitted in “identified pig farming areas”, with farmers in other areas encouraged to undertake alternative activities. This project will develop an inexpensive, safe and efficacious vaccine for use in pigs to protect against NiV infection and transmission thereby reducing the risk to public health. The vaccine will also reduce the major risk NiV poses to both the nascent developing pig industries, as well as to the livelihoods of poor livestock keepers in low and middle income countries. The vaccine will enable the discrimination of infection in vaccinated animals and therefore provide an important new tool to aid the monitoring, control and elimination of NiV from these reservoirs in South and Southeast Asia. The project will also provide a solid basis for the further evaluation of the vaccine for protection of humans against NiV infection.