<
https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/energy-environment/animals/2024/06/21/491405/the-first-ever-elephant-herpesvirus-vaccine-injected-in-houston-zoo/>
'A Houston Zoo elephant received the first-ever dose of an mRNA vaccine aimed
to prevent herpesvirus in elephants on Tuesday, according to a Houston Zoo
press release.
The Houston Zoo staff will monitor Tess, the 40-year-old Asian elephant, to
study the effects of the vaccine against elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus,
which has been the leading cause of death in Asian elephants born in North
America since 1980, according to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
The vaccine resulted from a 15-year partnership between the Houston Zoo and
Paul Ling, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine. Although he does not
expect the vaccine to cure the disease, Ling said the vaccine aims to boost
elephants' immunity against it.
"I would consider it a success if we can at a minimum eliminate lethal deaths
caused by this virus," Ling said.
Tess will remain under observation for the next couple of weeks, and she is
scheduled to receive a booster shot soon. Kristin Windle, the Houston Zoo
elephant's supervisor, said two other young elephants are scheduled to receive
the vaccine in the next couple of weeks.
"(Tess) is doing great," Windle said. "We’ve kept a really close eye on her. As
soon as she got the vaccine, we had veterinary staff that was there monitoring
her to ensure that she had no reactions to the vaccine, and everything went
great."'
Via
What Could Go Right?: The Ever-Evolving Olympics
https://theprogressnetwork.org/paris-2024-olympics/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
