World Zoonoses Day 2020

06 Jul 2020

6 July marks World Zoonoses Day. The day commemorates French scientist Louis Pasteur, who, on this day in 1885, administered the first vaccine against rabies.

World Zoonoses Day is particularly poignant in 2020, a year when the impact of zoonoses cannot be escaped. With so many lives lost and livelihoods diminished by the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us know too well the devastation zoonoses can cause.

At the IVVN, we have decided to mark the day with a celebration of the positive impact research can have. Our video below highlights three projects contributing to the understanding and control of different zoonoses around the world.

We will also be joining our partners at the One Health Poultry Hub in a two-minute silence at midday to reflect on the suffering caused by COVID-19 and other zoonoses, and we encourage you to do the same.

videos

Video: World Zoonoses Day 2020

Projects on zoonoses

A single dose vectored Taenia solium vaccine

Professor Adrian Hill (Jenner Institute, UK), Professor Marshall Lightowlers (University of Melbourne, Australia) and Professor Bryan Charleston (The Pirbright Institute, UK)

Isolation and molecular characterisation of Mycobacterium strains responsible for endemic bovine tuberculosis in Medea, Algeria

Dr Mammar Khames (University of Medea, Algeria) and Dr Sharon Kendall (Royal Veterinary College, United Kingdom)

Low-cost thermostabilisation of a Rift Valley Fever vaccine for veterinary use

Professor George Warimwe (KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kenya), Dr Alexander Douglas (Jenner Institute, UK) and Dr Michael J Francis (Biovacc Consulting Ltd, UK)

IVVN African Schools Outreach Programme

The IVVN African Schools Outreach Programme also focuses on a zoonotic disease. As part of the programme, school students in seven participating countries take part in an exciting laboratory workshop on rabies vaccination.