New Vaccine for WNV Awaits Approval

A new West Nile virus (WNV) equine recombinant canarypox vaccine awaits USDA approval, and once available, could pave the way for a new generation of equine vaccines in the United States. Merial developed this Recombitek equine WNV technology, and assembled a group of researchers, clinicians, and private practitioners in New Orleans, La., on Nov. 19, 2003, to review WNV and the research behind the technology.

The vaccine uses canarypox (which is innocuous to mammals) as a vector for introducing a tiny amount of WNV DNA to the animal's cells to quickly induce a long-lasting immunity.