The National Veterinary Institute and collaborating institutions won an international competitive research grant on Innovative Veterinary Solutions for Antimicrobial Resistance (InnoVet-AMR) 2
Project title: Novel Nano particle therapeutics as Alternatives to Antibiotics to Control Bacterial Infection in Ruminants in Ethiopia
The National Veterinary Institute in collaboration with Illinois (UIUC) and Ohio State Universities won the global call on research proposals on Innovative Veterinary Solutions for Antimicrobial Resistance (InnoVet-AMR) 2 funded by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the UK Department of Health and Social Care for the research proposal “Novel Nano particle therapeutics as Alternatives to Antibiotics to Control Bacterial Infection in Ruminants in Ethiopia”.
Project Background
Ethiopia owns the largest cattle population in Africa of which dairy industry is the most prominent and rapidly growing sector particularly in urban and peri-urban areas of the country. Young stock morbidity and mortality due to various infectious diseases and mastitis are among the major constraints of diary production in the country. A pooled prevalence of calf mortality was reported to be 14.8% in Ethiopia and calf mortality was ranked the second major problem of dairy production in Ethiopia next to mastitis. Herd level and cow level prevalence of mastitis was reported to be 74.7% and 62.6 % from Hawassa, southern Ethiopia causing a huge economic loss.
Antimicrobials have been used for the treatment of bacterial infections in animals and for the control of zoonotic pathogens that could be passed on to humans . However, due to misuse and overuse of antimicrobials, resistance to commonly used antimicrobials have become a common problem and management of infections is becoming a serious problem in both humans and animals globally. in Ethiopia, the mainstay for treatment and control of infections related to colibacillosis in cattle is the use of different antimicrobials: the common ones being drugs under classes of sulfonamides, tetracyclines, beta-lactams, and aminoglycosides . However, reports show high rate of resistance to these antimicrobials among E. coli isolates from the feces of dairy farms, hampering treatment and control of infections caused by these resistant organisms. Recent study reported resistance to as high as 63.8%, 55.8%, 41.6%, 44.4%, and 75% to tetracycline, ampicillin, streptomycin, amoxicillin + clavulanic acid, and sulfamethoxazole + trimethoprim, respectively, among E. coli isolates from dairy farms in central Ethiopia.
These scenarios necessitate the development of novel control methods for effective management of colibacillosis in calves. A novel small molecule (SM) inhibitor (growth and quorum sensing/virulence inhibitors) and novel antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) that affect different E. coli pathotypes including ETEC and those that are resistant to antibiotics have been identified in previous studies. The introduction of such biomolecules as therapeutics could potentially replace antibiotic use against E.coli and other gram-negative bacterial infections.
Thus, the overall objective of the project is to develop small molecule inhibitors and antimicrobial peptides in the form of chitosan-based nanoparticles (NPS) formulations and subsequently demonstrate their efficacy, safety, and applicability to control bacterial infection in a proof-of-concept challenge experiments in cattle using enterotoxigenic E.coli (ETEC) as a model organism.
Project Leaders and Lead researchers
- Professor Gireesh Rajashekara, University of Illinois, USA
- Dr Takele Abayneh T., National Veterinary Institute, ETHIOPIA