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Scientists have made a breakthrough in developing a new vaccine to prevent a fatal virus that affects young elephants.

The inoculation, produced by an global research team, is designed to stop the severe disease caused by EEHV, which is presently a leading cause of death in young Asian elephants.

In trials that included mature elephants at the facility, the vaccine was found to be safe and, crucially, to activate components of the immune system that assists in fighting viruses.

Prof Falko Steinbach called this as "a landmark moment in our efforts to protect Asian elephants".

It is hoped that the result of this pioneering trial will pave the way to preventing the deaths of young elephants from the harmful condition caused by this virus.

Severe Consequences

EEHV has had a especially devastating impact in captive environments. At one facility by itself, multiple baby elephants have died to it over the last decade. It has additionally been found in wild elephant herds and in certain refuges and elephant orphanages.

It causes a haemorrhagic disease - uncontrolled bleeding that can be deadly within 24 hours. It leads to death in more than 80% of instances in young elephants.

Understanding the Threat

Why EEHV can be so lethal is remains unknown. Many adult elephants carry the virus - seemingly with no negative impact on their health. But it is believed that young elephants are especially susceptible when they are being transitioned from milk, and when the immune-boosting antibodies from the maternal nutrition decline.

At this phase, a calf's natural defenses is in a delicate balance and it can become overwhelmed. "It can cause extremely serious illness," a lead conservation scientist explained.

"It does affect elephants in nature, but we lack an exact number of how many fatalities in overall it has caused. For elephants in human care however, there have been more than 100 deaths."

Vaccine Development

The scientific group, led by veterinary scientists, created the new vaccine using a tried and tested "scaffold". Basically, the basic structure of this vaccine is identical to one routinely used to immunise elephants against a virus called a related virus.

The scientists seeded this immunization framework with components from EEHV - non-infectious parts of the virus that the elephant's defense system might recognise and respond to.

In a world-first experiment, the team tested the new vaccine in three healthy, mature elephants at Chester Zoo, then analysed blood tests from the vaccinated animals.

The lead researcher stated that the results, published in a research publication, were "more successful than anticipated".

"They showed, clearly that the vaccine was effective to stimulate the generation of immune cells, that are vital to fighting virus attacks."

Next Phases

The subsequent phase for the researchers is to try the vaccine in younger elephants, which are the creatures most vulnerable to serious disease.

The present immunization requires multiple shots to be administered, so an additional objective is to determine if the same protective amount can be provided in a more straightforward way - possibly with fewer jabs.

The conservation scientist clarified: "Ultimately we want to employ this vaccine in the elephants that are at risk, so we need to make sure that we can get it to where it's needed."

Prof Steinbach added: "We think this is a major advancement, and not just only for the elephants, but because it also shows that you can develop and apply vaccines to assist threatened animals."