A multivalent vaccine and single platform diagnostic for bacterial respiratory diseases of pigs

猪可以感染许多疾病，但其中最严重的是由细菌引起的疾病，这些细菌可以生活在它们的喉咙、气道或扁桃体中，但也可以引起严重的肺（或脑）感染。大量动物可能很快死亡（急性感染）或不能正常生长（慢性感染）。这种感染每年给世界养猪业造成巨额损失。一个主要问题是这种感染很难诊断。一种特定细菌的某些菌株会致病，而另一些则不会，而且没有可靠的方法来区分它们。大多数专家都认为控制细菌传播的最好方法是使用疫苗。然而，目前的疫苗很差。它们不能阻止细菌在动物之间的传播，只对少数菌株起作用。我们计划以四种最常见的引起猪感染的细菌为目标：胸膜肺炎放线杆菌、副猪嗜血杆菌、肺炎支原体和猪链球菌。其中最后一种还可在人类中引起严重疾病，如血液中毒（败血症）和脑感染（脑膜炎），特别是在与猪一起工作的人中。我们的目标是开发(1)能够判断哪些菌株会引起疾病或不会引起疾病的测试；(2)一种能够预防多种猪病原体的单一疫苗。我们将从英国猪身上分离细菌，并使用遗传技术，找出每种细菌存在的不同种类。结果将用于开发一种诊断测试，也有助于选择适当的候选疫苗。这项工作将与兽医实验室机构、苏格兰农业学院、农业食品与生物科学研究所和华中农业大学（中国武汉）的合作伙伴合作完成。该项目（诊断和疫苗）的成功完成将防止动物遭受痛苦（通过接种疫苗减少感染，早期诊断和治疗，防止不必要的治疗），并为养猪业节省大量资金，为英国的繁荣做出贡献。

Pigs can get many diseases but amongst the most serious are those caused by bacteria that can live in their throats, airways or tonsils but can also cause severe lung (or brain) infections. Large numbers of animals may die quickly (acute infection) or fail to grow normally (chronic infection). Such infections cost the world's pig industry huge sums of money each year. A major problem is that such infections are difficult to diagnose. Some strains of a particular bacterium cause disease and others do not and there is no reliable method to distinguish them. Most experts agree that the best way to control the spread of bacteria is to use a vaccine. However, current vaccines are poor. They do not prevent the spread of bacteria from animal to animal and only work against a few strains. We plan to target four of the most common bacteria that cause infections in pigs: Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, Haemophilus parasuis, Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and Streptococcus suis. The last of these can also cause serious disease in humans such as blood poisoning (septicaemia) and brain infection (meningitis) especially in people who work with pigs. Our aim is to develop (1) tests that can tell which strains can cause disease or not and (2) a single vaccine that protects against more than one of the pig pathogens. We will isolate bacteria from UK pigs and, using genetic techniques, find out how many different sorts of each bacterium are present. The results will be used to develop a diagnostic test and also help in choosing appropriate vaccine candidates. The work will be done in collaboration with partners in the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Scottish Agricultural College, Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute and Huazhong Agricultural University (Wuhan, China). A successful conclusion to the project (diagnostics and vaccines) will prevent animal suffering (through reduction in infections via vaccination, early diagnosis and treatment, prevention of unnecessary treatment) and save the pig industry substantial amounts of money contributing to the prosperity of the UK.