Cattle producers are one step closer to protecting their livestock from bovine anaplasmosis after the University of Missouri announced it has developed the first vaccine for the disease. Bovine anaplasmosis is a tick-borne disease of ruminants caused by intracellular bacteria that infect red blood cells.
Roman Ganta, a McKee-endowed professor in Mizzou’s College of Veterinary Medicine and a Bond Life Sciences Center researcher,spearheaded the study that led to the vaccine. He has studied molecular genetics and vector-borne diseases for more than 30 years and joined Mizzou in 2023.
“I often receive calls from cattle producers who are excited about our research and want to know how soon they can get the vaccine,” Ganta said. “There is currently no effective, widely available vaccine for the disease, and cattle farmers are very worried about the disease harming or killing their cattle. We want to help farmers in Missouri and around the world and are working hard to come up with a viable solution.”
The researchers developed the vaccine by genetically modifying the pathogen Anaplasma marginale—which causes bovine anaplasmosis. In this process, a specific gene within the pathogen was deleted to create the modified pathogen to be injected into cattle to protect them from the disease.
The vaccine is not available yet, but Ganta is working with industry partners to release the patented vaccine to cattle producers in the future. According to Mizzou, the new vaccine provides immunized cattle protection from anaplasmosis for at least a month. Ganta is conducting further research to determine if the modified pathogen can protect cattle for a longer interval.
More than 20 species of ticks—including the Rocky Mountain wood tick, American dog tick and Pacific Coast tick—can transmit bovine anaplasmosis. Other vectors of the disease include blood contamination, biting flies and blood-to-blood contact. There is no evidence bovine anaplasmosis can be transmitted to humans. Infected animals can be treated with tetracycline, but cattle remain carriers for the rest of their lives.
Symptoms of bovine anaplasmosis are anemia, jaundice, fever, weakness, weight loss, decreased milk production, constipation, increased aggression, difficulty breathing and abortion. Symptoms typically appear a month after infection, but can occur between seven and 60 days after infection. Diagnostic testing must be conducted to confirm an animal is infected with bovine anaplasmosis.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, treating anaplasmosis can total more than $400 per animal and costs the U.S. beef industry more than $300 million every year.
“Missouri is a hotbed for tick-borne diseases, and bovine anaplasmosis causes massive economic losses both here in Missouri and around the world,” Ganta said.
