Vaccine against strangles (kvarka) shown to be safe and effective in clinical trials
Jan-Ingmar Flock at MTC has, in collaboration with Professor Bengt Guss at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, developed a vaccine against strangles (called kvarka in Swedish). Strangles is an infection in horses caused by Streptococcus equi. The infection resembles tonsillitis in humans caused by Streptococcus pyogenes. The vaccine, Strangvac®, is based on selected surface-localised proteins from S. equi, involved in surface attachment and immune evasion, and produced as recombinant proteins in E. coli. The vaccine has now undergone final blinded placebo controlled clinical trials at the Animal Health Trust in England to assess efficacy and safety in horses.
Strangvac® was successful in the trials and satisfied the expected end-points. There were significant reduction of the infection rate, post-mortem score, inflammatory markers and severity of infection in vaccinated horses after experimental challenge infection.