Bangladeshi scientists develop vaccine to fight cattle infectious disease

A team of Bangladeshi scientists led by Dhaka University Microbiology Department Professor Dr Md Anwar Hossain has developed a new trivalent vaccine for cattle infectious disease, Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD).

Announcing this at a press conference in the city on Tuesday, the leader of the 17-member team, Anwar Hossain said the new vaccine will give protection to the cattle against three types of FMD viruses most common in Bangladesh.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid and country's renowned science writer, physicist and academic Muhammed Zafar Iqbal were present at the event to share the good news with all, according to UNB.

Nahid said, "Livestock sector has great potentials for contributing our economy but infectious diseases like FMD are the main obstacle in the development of this sector to its optimum capacity."

The total number of FMD susceptible domestic animals in the country is 55.13 million and annual loss has been estimated at about $125 million per year due to FMD, he added.

Mentioning that vaccine innovation through transitional virus is a milestone for livestock research, Nahid said, "To meet the cost related to this research including laboratory establishment, Microbiology Science Department has been allocated Tk 145 million under two sub-project through HEQEP (Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project)".

"Most of the imported vaccines of FMD in our country were not working well. Moreover, this disease is spreading more day by day. Through the project, we collected various FMD samples from all over the country and found out that there are three types of FMD virus", said the leader of team Professor Anwar Hossain.

"We hope government will take proper management for marketing and bringing the vaccine to farms," he said adding that a patent application has already been submitted.

The programme was organised by Bangladesh University Grant Commission (UGC), Education Ministry and Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project (HEQEP) jointly at International Mother Language Institute in the city.

UGC chairman Abdul Mannan, Secondary and Higher Secondary Education secretary of Education Ministry Sohrab Hossain, UGC member Dr Eusuf Ali also spoke, among others, at the programme.