Virus That Kills More Elephants Than Any Other Cause Is Finally Defeated

Virus That Kills More Elephants Than Any Other Cause Is Finally Defeated

Virus That Kills More Elephants Than Any Other Cause Is Finally Defeated Photo by Wildlife SOS Veterinary immunologists have developed a vaccine for a virus that’s one of the the leading killers of elephants in captivity and in the wild. With no cure, and with a penchant for claiming the lives of elephants calves, elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) has been responsible in recent years for the deaths of five elephants at England’s Chester Zoo in, which participated in the development of the vaccine. The EEHV vaccine’s successful early trials have been heralded as a “landmark moment,” for the protection of wild and captive animals in conservation herds. Delivered in a two-dose set, with the first containing a harmless, dead version of the virus and a second delivering a booster to increase the immune response, it was found to trigger a robust immune response against EEHV with no harmful side effects. “This is a landmark moment in our work to develop safe and efficacious vaccines,” s…