News from May 2016

The influenza virus (flu) is a major health threat to humans and animals such as pigs, causing illness and major economic losses to producers and farmers. Pig flu viruses can also sometimes jump from pigs to humans and cause pandemics, as happened in 2009. There are many different strains of flu…

A study to find an alternative vaccine for rinderpest virus (RPV), which could be used in place of the traditional live virus vaccine, has concluded that there is currently no usable alternative - with implications for global preparedness. Rinderpest is one of only two viral diseases (the other…

A study by scientists at The Pirbright Institute – home to the UK, World and European Reference Laboratory for foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) - has shown that the persistence of specific viruses is related to their virulence in cell culture. African buffalo ( Syncerus caffer) are the primary…