Development and Evaluation of Monoclonal Antibodies against CBPP Antigen with the End Goal of Developing an ELISA Kit.

Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) is an infectious and contagious bacterial respiratory disease that affects cattle with significant economic losses to the African animal industry. The use of ELISA kits based on monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) will aid in quick and precise diagnosis of CBPP, contributing to disease control and prevention in cattle. Thus, this research aims to develop and evaluate monoclonal antibodies against CBPP (T1/44) antigen for use in ELISA kits for CBPP diagnosis. Hybridoma technology was used to develop monoclonal antibodies that recognize and bind to the CBPP (T1/44) antigen. The antibody-secreting hybridomas were produced after immunizing mice with purified CBPP antigens. The hybridomas were screened for high sensitivity, specificity, and liking to the antigen. The selected mAbs were assessed for sensitivity and specificity against CBPP antigen using different immunoassays, dot-blot, ELISA, and mouse mAb isotyping. The monoclonal antibodies were profoundly specific, with a higher hindrance to CBPP antigen (<0.50 OD) while lacking cross-reactivity to other antigens. The monoclonal antibodies could distinguish CBPP antigen at low concentrations, showing their high sensitivity (>80% PI). The isotyped mAbs of intrigued appeared to have a place in the IgG class. These identified monoclonal antibodies can be utilized to develop an ELISA kit for CBPP diagnosis, which would give a fast, precise, and cost-effective strategy for screening and checking CBPP in cattle herds.

South-to-south mentoring as a vehicle for implementing sustainable health security in Africa.

BACKGROUND: While sustainability has become a universal precept in the development of global health security systems, supporting policies often lack mechanisms to drive policies into regular practice. 'On-paper' norms and regulations are to a great extent upheld by frontline workers who often lack the opportunity to communicate their first-hand experiences to decisionmakers; their role is an often overlooked, yet crucial, aspect of a sustainable global health security landscape. Initiatives and programs developing transdisciplinary professional skills support the increased bidirectional dialogue between these frontline workers and key policy- and decisionmakers which may sustainably narrow the gap between global health security policy design and implementation. METHODS: The International Federation of Biosafety Associations' (IFBA) Global Mentorship Program recruits biosafety and biosecurity champions across Africa to provide local peer mentorship to developing professionals in their geographic region. Mentors and mentees complete structured one year program cycles, where they are provided with written overviews of monthly discussion topics, and attend optional virtual interactive activities. Feedback from African participants of the 2019-2020 program cycle was collected using a virtual Exit Survey, where aspects of program impact and structure were assessed. RESULTS: Following its initial call for applications, the IFBA Global Mentorship Program received considerable interest from professionals across the African continent, particularly in East and North Africa. The pilot program cycle matched a total of 62 individuals from an array of professional disciplines across several regions, 40 of which were located on the African continent. The resulting mentorship pairs shared knowledge, skills, and experiences towards translating policy objectives to action on the front lines. Mentorship pairs embraced multidisciplinary approaches to harmonize health security strategies across the human and animal health sectors. South-to-South mentorship therefore provided mentees with locally relevant support critical to translation of best technical practices to local capacity and work. CONCLUSION: The IFBA's South-to-South Global Mentorship Program has demonstrated its ability to form crucial links between frontline biosafety professionals, laboratory workers, and policy- and decision-makers across several implicated sectors. By supporting regionally relevant peer mentorship programs, the gap between health security policy development and implementation may be narrowed.

Corrigendum to "Development and Evaluation of an Immuno-Capture Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay to Quantify the Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. Capripneumoniae (Mccp) Protein in Contagious Caprine Pleuropneumonia (CCPP) Vaccine".

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2020/4236807.].

Molecular epidemiological update of Peste des Petits Ruminants virus (PPRV) in Ethiopia.

Peste des Petits ruminants (PPR) is a devastating disease of small ruminants with high morbidity and mortality rates among susceptible animals. The disease is endemic in much of Africa, the Middle East and Asia and constitutes one of the major hurdles to the improvement of small-ruminant production in these countries. The causal agent of PPR, the Small Ruminant Morbillivirus (SRMV), previously known as PPR virus (PPRV) belongs to the genus Morbillivirus within the family Paramyxoviridae. SRMV can be categorized into four genetically distinct lineages (I to IV). Suspicion of PPR was first reported in Ethiopia in 1977 and since then genetic characterization of circulating viruses has identified lineages III and IV in the country. This study was undertaken to provide an update on the molecular epidemiology of PPR in Ethiopia by analysing animal tissue samples collected between 2011 and 2017. PPR positive samples were identified in four regions of the country. Sequence and phylogenetic analysis of fourteen RT-PCR positive amplicons revealed that all of the SRMV in the samples from 2010 to 2017 belong to sub-clade II of clade I of lineage IV. No lineage III viruses were identified.

Development and validation of an epitope-blocking ELISA using an anti-haemagglutinin monoclonal antibody for specific detection of antibodies in sheep and goat sera directed against peste des petits ruminants virus.

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a contagious and economically important disease affecting production of small ruminants (i.e., sheep and goats). Taking into consideration the lessons learnt from the Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme (GREP), PPR is now targeted by the international veterinary community as the next animal disease to be eradicated. To support the African continental programme for the control of PPR, the Pan African Veterinary Vaccine Centre of the African Union (AU-PANVAC) is developing diagnostics tools. Here, we describe the development of a blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (bELISA) that allows testing of a large number of samples for specific detection of antibodies directed against PPR virus in sheep and goat sera. The PPR bELISA uses an anti-haemagglutinin (H) monoclonal antibody (MAb) as a competitor antibody, and tests results are interpreted using the percentage of inhibition (PI) of MAb binding generated by the serum sample. PI values below or equal to 18% (PI ≤ 18%) are negative, PI values greater than or equal to 25% (PI ≥ 25%) are positive, and PI values greater than 18% and below 25% are doubtful. The diagnostic specificity (DSp) and diagnostic sensitivity (DSe) were found to be 100% and 93.74%, respectively. The H-based PPR-bELISA showed good correlation with the virus neutralization test (VNT), the gold standard test, with a kappa value of 0.947. The H-based PPR-bELISA is more specific than the commercial kit ID Screen® PPR Competition (N-based PPR-cELISA) from IDvet (France), but the commercial kit is slightly more sensitive than the H-based PPR-bELISA. The validation process also indicated good repeatability and reproducibility of the H-based PPR-bELISA, making this new test a suitable tool for the surveillance and sero-monitoring of the vaccination campaign.