Vaccines Targeted to Zoonotic Viral Infections in the Wildlife: Potentials, Limitations, and Future Directions

Abstract

Currently, emerging viruses such as arboviruses, flaviviruses, filovirus, and orthohepeviruses are important agents of emerging zoonoses in public health, because their cycles are maintained in the nature or wildlife, involving hematophagous arthropod vectors and a wide range of vertebrate hosts as the bats. Development of blocking-transmission vaccines against these emerging viruses in wildlife will allow disease control at the veterinary field, preventing emerging human viral infections.

A proposed roadmap for the control of infections in wildlife using Chlamydia vaccine development in koalas Phascolarctos cinereus as a template

“…The steps used in the development of the vaccine against C. pecorum infections in the koala can be utilized to provide important insights into the use of vaccines for the control of wildlife disease, and as a roadmap for future studies for infectious diseases in wildlife. Though there are other successful examples of vaccines for wildlife (Monica et al 2019 for a review of vaccines against viruses in wildlife), we have chosen this system for the following reasons: 1) C. pecorum infections in the koala have been intensively studied for more than 30 years and a significant body of work has been published in the past seven years (2010–2017) describing chlamydial vaccine trials; 2) no reviews of this system currently exist and 3) it provides a clear and simple system of one host and one pathogen, allowing for the extrapolation of the most important steps in a clear and concise manner. Here we use the body of work available on anti‐chlamydia vaccines for the koala to develop a roadmap that can be a starting point for wildlife researchers attempting to develop a vaccine.…”