Vaccination against ticks (Boophilus spp.): the experience with the Bm86-based vaccine Gavac (TM)

The control of tick infestations and the transmission of tick-borne disease s remain a challenge for the cattle industry in tropical and subtropical ar eas of the world. Traditional control methods have been only partially succ essful and the parasites continue to result in significant losses for the c attle industry. Recently, vaccines containing the recombinant B. microplus gut antigen Bm86 have been developed. Our vaccine formulation (Gavac(TM), H eber Biotec S.A., Havana, Cuba) has been registered and is commercially ava ilable in Cuba, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Brazil and Mexico. In control led pen trials, Gavac(TM) has been effective for the control of artificial infestations of B. annulatus, B. decoloratus and chemical-sensitive and res istant B, microplus strains from Australia, Africa, America and Iran. In co ntrolled field trials in Cuba, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, Gavac has show n a 55-100% efficacy in the control of B. microplus infestations in grazing cattle 12-36 weeks after the first vaccination. Field trials under product ion conditions have been conducted in Cuba, Colombia, Brazil and Mexico in pure and cross-bred cattle herds. The application of Gavac(TM) has increase d the time between acaricide treatments by an average of 32 +/- 21 days (P = 0.0005) resulting in important savings for the cattle industry. In Cuba, a cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted in more than 260 000 animals. T he cost-effectiveness analysis showed a 60% reduction in the number of acar icide treatments, together with the control of tick infestations and transm ission of babesiosis, which resulted in savings of $23.4 animal(-1) year(-1 ). These results clearly demonstrate the advantage of vaccination and suppo rt the application of Gavac for the control of Boophilus spp. infestations. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.