A Murdoch research team is about to be awarded $750,000 to produce a commercially marketable vaccine for Jembrana disease virus (JDV), a fatal disease uniquely affecting Indonesian Banteng “Bali” cattle.

This funding from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research culminates 13 years of international collaborative research into methods of controlling the virus.

In 1987, virology expert Professor Graham Wilcox from Murdoch’s Veterinary and Biological Sciences was first invited to collaborate with the Bali Cattle Disease Investigations Unit, who were trying to prevent further spread of JDV throughout Indonesia.

Jembrana disease, the disease caused by JDV, first swept through Bali in 1964, killing 30,000-70,000 Banteng cattle in the first 12 months before spreading to Java and Sumatra.

“This disease has a devastating impact in a country where many people count their wealth in cows used to plough their rice fields,” said Professor Wilcox.

Professor Wilcox and his Indonesian colleagues spent four years investigating the cause of the disease in Bali, hoping to find ways to stop the disease in its tracks.

Studying the structure and behaviour of JDV revealed that it was part of the same virus family as HIV and its cattle counterpart Bovine Immune Deficiency Virus (BIV). BIV is common in cattle in most countries and causes little if any problem, but the closely related JDV has developed genetic changes enabling it to cause a very severe disease in Banteng cattle.

The joint Indonesian/Murdoch team succeeded in creating a crude vaccine as an interim measure while the research for an improved vaccine has continued.

“Thanks to the research, the farmers in Indonesia now have a limited way to monitor, detect and diagnose Jembrana disease,” said Professor Wilcox.

“Although effective, the vaccine developed is very expensive and requires refrigeration, so it was vital to develop a more stable, cheaper vaccine.”

“A vaccine that you plan to use in the jungles of Sumatra and Borneo where transportation is difficult, not only has to be effective but it has to be robust.”

Due to political unrest in Indonesia, Indonesian colleagues have not been able to pursue their work on Jembrana disease and Professor Wilcox and his colleagues have been restricted to laboratory work back in Perth over the past few years.

However, this Murdoch-based research period in the State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre at Murdoch has proved to be fruitful, with researchers successfully using genetic techniques to produce reagents that should help in developing of a vaccine for use in Indonesia

The researchers at Murdoch in conjunction with Indonesian partners are now going to test a number of possible vaccines that have been produced and then will look for a commercial partner in Indonesia to produce and market the vaccine throughout the country.