Safety and Efficacy of the East Coast Fever Muguga Cocktail Vaccine: A Systematic Review

Fiona K Allan,Andrew R Peters

doi:10.3390/vaccines9111318

Abstract

Immunisation of livestock with high quality vaccines is considered an essential approach to controlling many animal diseases. The only currently available commercial vaccine to protect cattle from East Coast fever (ECF), a tick-borne disease caused by Theileria parva, is an unconventional “infection and treatment method” (ITM) involving administration of a combination of live T. parva isolates, referred to as the “Muguga cocktail”, and simultaneous treatment with long-acting oxytetracycline. Veterinary vaccine research and development typically involves studies designed to demonstrate vaccine quality, safety, and efficacy; however, as there were no such purpose-designed registration studies conducted for the Muguga cocktail, evidence for safety and efficacy is solely based on that which is available in the clinical literature. An extensive systematic review was conducted to analyse the evidence available in the literature in order to establish the safety and efficacy of the Muguga cocktail vaccine. A combination of meta-analyses and narrative summaries was conducted. A total of 61 studies met the criteria to be included in the systematic review. The majority of studies demonstrated or reported in favour of the vaccine with regards to safety and efficacy of the Muguga cocktail vaccine. Proximity to buffalo often resulted in reduced vaccine efficacy, and reports of shed and transmission of vaccine components affected the overall interpretation of safety. Better understanding of control options for this devastating livestock disease is important for policymakers and livestock keepers, enabling them to make informed decisions with regards to the health of their animals and their livelihoods.

Highlights

Pastoralist peoples in Africa inhabit some of the harshest environments in the world where livestock provide both health and socioeconomic wellbeing to these communities [1,2]
Single studies were conducted in Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Burundi
This review aimed to examine the evidence regarding the safety and efficacy of the Muguga cocktail vaccine, an unconventional vaccination procedure to protect cattle from East Coast fever (ECF)

Summary

Introduction

Pastoralist peoples in Africa inhabit some of the harshest environments in the world where livestock provide both health and socioeconomic wellbeing to these communities [1,2]. East Coast fever (ECF), caused by the apicomplexan parasite Theileria parva [4] and transmitted by the brown ear tick Rhipicephalus appendiculatus, is a fatal disease of cattle in eastern and southern Africa (see recent review by Nene et al [5]). Known as the “infection and treatment method” (ITM), was developed in the 1970s [10,11,12]. This relies on infection of animals with a potentially lethal dose of live T. parva sporozoites with concurrent treatment of long-acting oxytetracycline to control clinical symptoms

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