Rabies is a global problem, but the burden is higher in less developed or developing countries of Asia and Africa. In Nepal, rabies is reported to kill around 500 animals and up to 32 human beings in recent years, with possible under-reporting of cases and deaths. As a prophylactic measure, around 30,000 livestock and 300,000 humans get vaccinated each year in Nepal. This review summarizes the past, present and future perspectives of rabies control and prevention in Nepal. The global strategic plan of World Health Organization (WHO) aims to bring human deaths from dog-transmitted rabies to zero by 2030. To achieve this goal of ‘Zero by 30’, the concerned governmental and non-governmental agencies in Nepal should work together using the One Health concept.

The livestock and poultry sectors are an integral part of Nepalese economy and lifestyle. Livestock and poultry populations have continuously been increasing in the last decade in Nepal and are likely to follow that trend as the interests in this field is growing. Infectious diseases such as Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), hemorrhagic septicemia (HS), black quarter (BQ), swine fever, avian influenza, and Newcastle disease (ND) constitute one of the major health challenges to the Nepalese livestock and poultry industry. Vaccinations are an efficient means of preventing the occurrence and spread of several diseases in animals and birds. Considering this fact, the government of Nepal began the production of veterinary vaccines in the 1960s. Nepal is self-reliant in producing several vaccines for cattle and buffaloes, sheep and goats, pigs, and poultry. Despite these efforts, the demand for vaccines is not met, especially in the commercial poultry sector, as Nepal spends billions of rupees in vaccine imports each year. There is a need of strengthening laboratory facilities for the isolation and characterization of field strains of pathogens and capacity building for the production of different types of vaccines using the latest technologies to be self-reliant in veterinary vaccine production in the future in Nepal.

Coronaviruses are a group of enveloped, single-stranded, positive-sense RNA viruses that are broadly classified into alpha, beta, gamma, and delta coronavirus genera based on the viral genome. Coronavirus was not thought to be a significant problem in humans until the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2002, but infections in animals, including pigs, cats, dogs, and poultry, have been problematic for a long time. The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, drew special attention towards this virus once again. The intermediate host of this novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is yet to be determined, but it has a very close genomic relationship with the bat coronavirus (Bat-CoV), RaTG13 strain, and the pangolin coronaviruses. As veterinary medicine has a long-term experience dealing with coronaviruses, this could be helpful in better understanding and detecting the origin of SARS-CoV-2 and drive human medicine towards the development of vaccines and antiviral drugs through the collaborative and transdisciplinary approaches of One Health. Keywords: Animal Coronaviruses, COVID-19, One Health, SARS-CoV-2.

Poultry industry is one of the strong pillars of Nepal’s agricultural production system, contributing around 4% in the national gross domestic product (GDP). Nepal is self-reliant in poultry meat and egg production. This sector provides employment to thousands of people and has become a major source of income to rural people. Low investment cost, less manpower requirement, and quick returns attract many investors towards poultry farming and hence the population and productivity of poultry is increasing year after year. Different viral, bacterial, protozoal and fungal diseases, including influenza, fowl typhoid, coccidiosis and mycotoxicosis, cause tremendous economic loss to the poultry sector of Nepal each year. Vaccines can be an effective preventive measure against poultry diseases and Nepal government together with the private sectors produce vaccines against different poultry diseases. Still, poultry vaccine production within the country is not enough and depends on imports from other countries. Considering the continuous growth in the poultry production and constant threat of disease outbreaks, government of Nepal as well as private sectors should invest more on vaccine production within the country. This article explains the current status of poultry production and vaccine development in Nepal.

Nepal is a country with variation in topography and diverse climatic zones. Agriculture is a major occupation for majority of Nepalese engaging 66% of total population in farming and Poultry farming is integral part of the agriculture in Nepal. Nepal has long history of traditional poultry keeping. Poultry are the important source of valuable dietary proteins and rural cash income. In recent data, about 72 million chickens and 400 thousand ducks are present which include commercial, small holder and backyard type of farm. Poultry sector is an emerging industry engaging and employing 70,000 people directly contributing about 4% in National GDP. In present days, the traditional poultry farming is replaced by commercial farming. But the challenge and constraints on poultry sector are increasing day by day. Outbreak and spread of emerging infectious disease is headache in poultry farming. Various disease like Avian influenza, Newcastle disease, IBD, IB, ILT, coccidiosis, Avian Mycoplasmosis, Fowl typhoid, Fowl pox etc. cause serious economic loss in poultry industry. Newcastle disease is common and spread throughout the country having higher incidence in the summer which is caused by avian paramyxovirus type-1 of Paramyxoviridae. Vaccines are important tool for prophylactic measures. In many countries, vaccination against ND is routinely practiced for prevention and control of disease and types of vaccines and vaccination schedule vary according to potential threat and virulence property of the field challenge virus. There is big challenge for vaccine researchers, manufacturers and scientists for development of effective vaccine against Newcastle disease. In this paper, we will discuss about present status of Newcastle disease and Vaccine produced in Nepal and Vaccination protocol to prevent spread of Newcastle Disease in Nepal.

African swine fever (ASF) is a highly contagious viral infection of domestic and wild pigs with high mortality. First reported in East Africa in the early 1900s, ASF was largely controlled in domestic pigs in many countries. However, in recent years ASF outbreaks have been reported in several countries in Europe and Asia. The occurrence of ASF in China, the largest pork producer in the world, in 2018 and in India, the country that surrounds and shares open borders with Nepal, has increased the risk of ASF transmission to Nepal. Lately, the pork industry has been growing in Nepal, overcoming traditional religious and cultural biases against it. However, the emergence of viral infections such as ASF could severely affect the industry's growth and sustainability. Because there are no effective vaccines available to prevent ASF, the government should focus on preventing entry of the virus through strict quarantine measures at the borders, controls on illegal trade, and effective management practices, including biosecurity measures.

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Background Swine are the most important meat animal, famous for white meat, which are prepared as ham, bacon, gammon, sausages and pork. Swine are valuable animals and they are physiologically, immunologically and anatomically similar to humans and their organ can be transplanted to the humans. Due to modernization, the cultural food restriction has lost in the people of urban communities and among the younger generations in Nepal. Gradually changing feeding habit of Nepalese has proven pork to be a useful addition to the food menu. Not only 8.7 lakhs swine in Nepal but the global pig population which occupy 769.05 million are suffering every day from new challenges and threats from very harmful pathogens and diseases like swine dysentery, coccidiosis, swine influenza, etc. Swine influenza is highly contagious rapidly spreading zoonotic viral disease of pigs characterized by febrile respiratory disease often complicated with secondary bacterial infections. Vaccines are only tool for prophylactic measures. There is big challenge for vaccine researchers, manufacturers and scientists for development of effective vaccine regarding swine influenza. Currently available flu vaccines are capable of homologous protection of virus but fail to induce cross protection against frequently evolving heterologous viruses. In this review, we discuss the status of novel nanoparticle-based approach of swine influenza virus vaccine development contributed significantly by Nepalese scientist and the future directions to control this economically important swine disease.