By JH Gathaara.

A new cattle vaccine for East Coast Fever (ECF), developed by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), will save the country and livestock farmers Ksh30bn which it loses annually through tick control, treatment and the loss of cattle.

The disease is spread by the brown ear tick and is a common cattle disease in East, Central and Southern Africa. The disease is known as 'Ndigano' in Kiswahili and 'Ngaai' by some communities around Mount Kenya. Symptoms of ECF include fever, reduced appetite and swollen lymphatic modes.

Before KARI developed the new vaccine, livestock farmers in Kenya had been using acaricides, a chemical used to control ticks. But acarcides is environmentally unfriendly and is not always effective because ticks develop a resistance after being exposed to the chemical. It is also expensive to develop and the economic returns from its use are comparatively low

The new vaccination method - East Coast Fever infection method (ECFim) - uses a new drug, Oxytetracycline, to prevent the disease. This drug reduces the rate of multiplication of parasites allowing the vaccinated animal to develop mild ECF from which they recover. As a result the body builds up a resistance and for the rest of its life the vaccinated animal is protected from the disease.

The major problem with ECF is that it is caused by different strains of parasite. However, one strain from the Kenyan coast, identified by scientists from KARI, provides a very broad spectrum of protection against different strains of parasites associated with ECF commonly found in Kenya.

KARI has signed a memorandum of understanding with Cooper Kenya Limited (CKL), a company specialising in the marketing of livestock production inputs, to market and distribute the ECFim technology to livestock farmers.