Abstract
AbstractGlobal change is contributing to unprecedented expansions of infectious diseases in wildlife. Recurrent avian cholera outbreaks are causing dramatic chick mortality and population decline in endangered albatross colonies on Amsterdam Island, a critical seabird breeding ground in the Southern Indian Ocean. We manufactured a killed vaccine using a Pasteurella multocida strain isolated from a dead albatross in the field. We used this same bacterial strain to establish a serological assay allowing the monitoring of antibody levels following bird vaccination. Using this vaccine on chicks 2 weeks posthatching caused 100% seroconversion and reduced the death risk by a factor exceeding 2.5, raising fledging probability from 14% to 46%. These results suggest that using a specifically tailored vaccine could be a key tool to effectively protect endangered seabirds from disease outbreaks threatening them with extinction.
Highlights
To cite this version: Vincent Bourret, Amandine Gamble, Jérémy Tornos, Audrey Jaeger, Karine Delord, et al
The present study directly demonstrates the efficacy of an autogenous vaccine in protecting endangered albatrosses against lethal infection in a controlled field trial
Vaccine production was inspired from a process initially developed for the poultry industry, with analogies to the production of a bacterin that had shown promising results in giant Canada geese (Branta canadensis maxima) (Price 1985) and was later used to investigate the effect of avian cholera on adult survival in lesser snow geese (Anser caerulescens caerulescens) (Samuel et al 1999)
Summary
To cite this version: Vincent Bourret, Amandine Gamble, Jérémy Tornos, Audrey Jaeger, Karine Delord, et al. HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Short running title: Albatross vaccination against avian cholera Keywords: Amsterdam albatross, antibody dynamics, autogenous vaccine, avian cholera, Darkmantled sooty albatross, emerging infectious diseases, Indian yellow-nosed albatross, Pasteurella multocida, seabird conservation
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
