Swiss researchers have developed and tested a novel IBH vaccine for horses that minimized the disease-associated inflammation and itching in their trial herd.

https://thehorse.com/160153/novel-ibh-vaccine-for-horses-tested/



If you’ve been itching for an effective insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) vaccine for your horses, you might soon get some relief. Swiss researchers have developed and tested a novel IBH vaccine for horses that minimized the disease’s effects in their trial herd.

It’s the only IBH vaccine for horses so far to successfully ward off the inflammation and itching caused by biting midges’ saliva in affected horses, said Antonia Fettelschoss-Gabriel, PhD, researcher in the University Hospital Zurich Department of Dermatology, in Schlieren, and at Evax Biotech, in Münchwilen, both in Switzerland.

It’s also the first successful immunotherapeutic approach targeting a chronic disease in horses, working by preventing certain cells from getting recruited to the skin and causing tissue damage, she said.

In 2016, Icelandic researchers developed an IBH vaccine for horses based on injecting allergens directly into horses’ lymph nodes to help them develop immunity to those allergens. Although they tested the vaccine in live, healthy horses, they had not yet tested its efficacy by exposing those horses to biting midges.

In the new Swiss study, vaccinated horses showed significantly reduced allergic reactions compared to themselves the year before (when they weren’t vaccinated) and to horses treated with a placebo (a vaccine with no active ingredients), Fettelschoss-Gabriel said. They received four subcutaneous (under the skin) injections over a three-month period, plus a booster shot one month later.