A veterinarian vaccinates cows against Rift Valley Fever Rift Valley Fever, a highly contagious virus.Credit: Greenshoots Communications/Alamy Stock Photo
Scientists have validated a genetic variant that supports selective breeding to improve the survival rates of cattle infected by East Coast Fever (ECF).
In a study published in PLOS Genetics, researchers from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, and the University of Edinburgh, in the United Kingdom, found Boran cattle were more than three times less likely to die from ECF than matched controls. The study revealed the genetic underpinning for such high level of tolerance to ECF.
ECF, a tick-borne cattle disease caused by the Theileria parva parasite kills more than a million head of cattle in East Africa each year.
The team said that such disease control measures are urgently needed in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region that has limited access to vaccines and treatment drugs for ECF. “This study underlines the importance of research to find solutions to managing ECF,” said Philip Toye, the study’s co-author and a principal scientist in animal health from ILRI.
Toye said the researchers will now embark on a larger field work to identify animals with this variant providing the basis for selective breeding programmes.
The genetic variant provides the basis for marker-assisted selection, allowing farmers to breed tolerant cattle and offers a route to introduce this beneficial DNA to non-native breeds, enabling reduced disease incidence and increased productivity.
