Synthetic RNA designs for defective virus vaccines of African horse sickness disease

非洲马瘟是一种病毒性疾病，导致高达90%的马匹死亡，但也可以在没有严重疾病症状的情况下感染其他动物（骡子，驴，斑马，山羊）。AHSV是撒哈拉以南非洲的地方病，但西班牙和葡萄牙偶尔爆发这种疾病，造成了重大的社会和经济影响。该病毒通过在整个欧洲和英国发现的叮咬蠓传播，增加了爆发的潜在风险。随着气候变化影响这些蠓的总体数量及其扩散，这一问题越来越令人关切。目前有针对AHSV的疫苗，但它们被认为是不安全的，会引起不良副作用，并有可能将不同类型的病毒释放到环境中。这项提案将开发高度安全的疫苗，保护动物免受感染，而不会产生副作用。由于LSHTM的一个研究小组最近的发现，新疫苗才有可能，并且将使用其他公共或商业组织尚未提供的技术。

African horse sickness is a viral disease of horses that results in up to 90% death in naïve but can also infect without severe disease symptom other animals (mules, donkeys, zebras, goats), which act as reservoir. AHSV is endemic to the sub-Saharan Africa but there has been the occasional outbreak of the disease in Spain and Portugal which had significant social and economic impact. The virus is spread by biting midges that are found throughout Europe and the UK, increasing the potential risk of an outbreak. This is becoming a greater concern as climate changes influence both the overall populations of these midges and their dispersal. There are current vaccines available for AHSV but they are considered unsafe, causing adverse side effects and have potential for releasing different type of the viruses into the environment. This proposal will develop vaccines that will be highly safe and will protect the animals from infection without the side effects. The new vaccines are only possible due to recent discoveries made by a research team at the LSHTM, and will use technologies, which are not yet available in other public or commercial organizations.