Bluetongue virus reverse genetics: the way forward for Bluetongue vaccines

蓝舌病是一种发生在绵羊、牛和山羊身上的病毒性疾病，对英国农业构成了经济威胁。这种病毒是通过昆虫（飞蚊）传播的，自1998年以来，蓝舌病的爆发已经向欧洲北部蔓延，并于2007年9月传到了英国。目前欧洲的情况很严重，绵羊、山羊和牛的广泛感染导致许多动物死亡，英国也很有可能出现类似的情况。目前可用的蓝舌病疫苗被认为既不安全也不够有效，不足以广泛使用，而且它们也不能预防24种不同病毒株中的一种以上。由于事先接种一种毒株并不能预防其他毒株，因此一种能够预防目前流行的所有病毒毒株的疫苗是一个优先事项。这项建议将开发这样一种疫苗，同时保持区分受感染动物和接种疫苗动物的可能性，这对贸易考虑很重要。由于英国研究人员最近的发现，新疫苗才有可能出现，并且使用了其他公共或商业部门组织尚未提供的技术。

Bluetongue is a viral disease of sheep, cattle and goats that poses an economic threat to UK agriculture. The virus is spread by insects (flying midges), since 1998 outbreaks of Bluetongue have spread Northwards in Europe and in September 2007 it reached the UK. The current European situation is severe with widespread infection of sheep, goats and cattle causing many animal deaths, and there is significant risk that a similar scenario will develop in the UK. Current vaccines available against Bluetongue are considered neither safe nor effective enough to be used on a widespread basis, nor do they protect from more than one of the 24 different strains of the virus. As prior vaccination for one strain does not protect against other strains a vaccine that will protect against all currently circulating strains of the virus is a priority. This proposal will develop such a vaccine, while maintaining the possibility to distinguish between infected and vaccinated animals, which is important for trade considerations. The new vaccine is only possible due to recent discoveries made by UK researchers, and uses technology which is not yet available in other public or commercial sector organisations.