GRANT CONTRACT FOR A DECENTRALISED PROGRAMME EUROPEAN COMMISSION EXTERNAL AID PACE CBPP RESEARCH PROGRAMME

This research programme uses funds from the PACE Programme to improve current vaccines and lay the ground work for development of novel vaccines and diagnostics assays to control contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP), a fataldisease that limits the cattle industry in most of Africa. The existing control methods, based on restriction of cattle movement and slaughter, are not practical due to cost and cultural practices. The available live attenuated vaccines have a limited duration of immunity and low efficacy. Similarly, diagnostic assays detect antibodies only in the early stages of infection. The proposal will focus on improving the existing vaccines, defining the protective immune mechanisms and to use this information to identify candidate genes for development novel control technologies and the validation of available diagnostic tools.