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BLFisher Note:

If microorganisms can mutate to resist antibiotics in order to survive,
there
is no reason why they cannot mutate to resist vaccines in order to survive.
Already scientists have detected increasing incidence of strains of B.
pertussis with a mutated surface protein. A CDC study has identified eight
distinct genotypes of a wild-type measles virus. The long term costs
associated with the development of vaccine-resistant strains are not
included
in global vaccine benefit/risk analyses.


Source:   University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign (http://www.uiuc.edu/)


Date:   Posted 5/3/2001

Chickens Succumbing To Virus Formerly Avoided By Vaccination

CHAMPAIGN, Ill.  A virus common to poultry is outfoxing a long-used vaccine,
apparently through natural genetic engineering and by using strategies to
survive environmental insults, says a University of Illinois researcher who
has been tracking new outbreaks around the world. A new form of fowlpox, he
said, now threatens poultry production and requires a new vaccine strategy.

Live vaccines have been used for more than 50 years to protect commercial
poultry against fowlpox  a slow-spreading infection in birds for which there
is no treatment. A new viral strain, carrying genes from an unrelated avian
virus, has arisen to cause disease in previously vaccinated chickens in
Arkansas, California, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York and
Pennsylvania.

Deoki N. Tripathy, a professor of veterinary pathobiology in the UI College
of Veterinary Medicine, summarized the situation in a presentation during
the 50th Western Poultry Disease Conference in March at the University of
California at Davis.

In most of these occurrences, the diphtheritic form of the disease, which
attacks the eyes, throats and trachea, results in high mortality, Tripathy
said. Reduced egg production with significant economic losses in affected
layer flocks also has been observed. A molecular analysis of the new form of
the virus in the United States and in Australia shows the integration of a
retrovirus, avian reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV), into its genome. While
fowlpox virus vaccines carry a portion of REV, the new strains contain
intact REV.

In the February issue of the Journal of Virology, Tripathy reported that the
fowlpox virus also has two other genes. One encodes for an enzyme,
photolyase, which allows for the repair of DNA damaged by sunlight, and the
other for a protein that shields the virus from environmental damage.

The virus has acquired several genes that are not vital for its
multiplication but provide a good strategy for prolonged survival, he said.
Since fowlpox is among the largest of viruses  more than 200 genes encoding
for essential and non-essential proteins  it is not surprising to find
spontaneous, natural genetic engineering occurring between distinct viruses
attacking the same birds, he said. In large poultry operations, birds face
multiple pathogens.

Fowlpox occurs as a dry pox, which results in wart-like nodules on the skin
that turn to scabs, and/or a usually fatal wet pox that affects the oral
cavity and upper respiratory system. Most birds recover from dry pox within
three to five weeks but not without losses in egg production or growth.

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