
One Health Day, celebrated on 3 November each year, raises awareness around the need for research to join across many disciplines to solve the world’s critical health challenges. The One Health agenda advocates that scientists consider how animal, human and plant health are interlinked and to apply a holistic approach to tackle emerging infectious disease, antimicrobial resistance, climate change and pollution.
Scientists at The Pirbright Institute are currently working on projects that take a One Health approach to vaccine development for three zoonotic diseases (those that can spread between animals and humans): Nipah virus infection, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) and Rift Valley fever (RVF). The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed them as priority diseases to encourage research into their prevention before they become a serious global issue.
Nipah virus infection

Pirbright scientists are leading an international research project to create a Nipah vaccine that can give at-risk countries an alternative option to culling vast numbers of susceptible pigs during future outbreaks. The team has already shown that three candidate vaccines can protect pigs against Nipah virus infection under laboratory conditions. They are now preparing to test if protection is maintained after a single vaccination and from this information they will select a prototype vaccine to test under field conditions in Malaysia and Bangladesh.
The vaccine will prevent the cycle of transmission from bats to pigs and pigs to humans, improving animal welfare, public health and economic prosperity. Successful development of this vaccine will also provide a solid basis for further evaluating its ability to protect humans against Nipah virus infection.
Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever

They are currently analysing over 5,000 serum samples and ticks that were collected in collaboration with regional vets from the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) during a six month period to gain a better understanding of the disease dynamics in the field and establish reliable estimates of the vaccine effectiveness in sheep in a high risk area.

By developing vaccines to protect susceptible animals from CCHF, the risk to people can be reduced. The development of a human CCHF vaccine is the focus of PHE research and these field vaccine trials in animals will also help indicate which vaccines could eventually be used successfully in people. Phase I safety trials for vaccine use in humans are estimated to start in early 2020.
Rift Valley fever

In partnership with The Jenner Institute, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme and International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Pirbright scientists are conducting a field trial for a new RVF vaccine in Kenya. Most vaccines are currently designed separately for animals and humans, which increases development time and cost. However, the new RVF vaccine, created by The Jenner Institute, has been developed to protect both susceptible animals and humans from the disease. Pirbright scientists have recently shown that the vaccine is safe in pregnant animals, which is vital in order to ensure it can be used during outbreaks, and provides important information for human trials.

All three vaccine projects have been funded by the Department of Health and Social Care as part of the UK Vaccine Network (UKVN), a UK Aid programme to develop vaccines for diseases with epidemic potential in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).