Panacea for parasite-induced epilepsy

IIL develops world’s first vaccine against Porcine Cysticercosis

Hyderabad: Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL) has developed the world’s first vaccine Cysvax against porcine cysticercosis which is one of the predominant causatives of epilepsy in humans. Cysticercosis is an infection inflicted by tapeworm larva in pigs which gets transmitted to human host on consumption of infected pork or unwashed contaminated vegetables.

These larvae enter the brain tissue in humans and form cysts, creating a condition termed as neuro-cysticercosis which causes epilepsy, a neurological disorder marked by sudden recurrent episodes of sensory disturbance, loss of consciousness, or convulsions, associated with abnormal electrical activity in the brain.

Explaining the characteristics of the vaccine to The Hans India, Dr K Anand Kumar, Managing Director, Indian Immunologicals Ltd., informed that the vaccine developed by the IIL in collaboration with the University of Melbourne and GALVmed (Global Alliance for Veterinary medicine), is administered on pigs to prevent cysticercosis in them.

“This would in turn prevent epilepsy among those who consume pork,” he said and pointed out that neurocysticercosis is a contributory factor for 50 percent of epilepsy cases. “It is not something only pork consumers get. Even vegetable salads can be infected which when consumed can cause epilepsy,” he cautioned.

The vaccine, which is to be administered in two doses, costs around Rs 68, and is targeted to be promoted among commercial breeders. The vaccine is ready for launch and the IIL is creating awareness about it among pig breeders. “Since the pig breeders are yet to evince interest in the vaccine due to the fact that it is not in any way impacting their marketability we are also communicating to the abattoir owners about the necessity for procuring pigs which have been vaccinated against cysticerocosis.

We are also planning to distribute the vaccine to African countries through our partner Galvmed and Gates foundation,” he said adding that IIL had also suggested to insurance companies to give coverage to only those pigs which have been vaccinated against cysticercosis. Explaining the need to promote the vaccine extensively coupled with its cost-benefit factors, Dr Anand Kumar said, “Around 10 million people are suffering from epilepsy in India and the economic burden of epilepsy is around Rs.11,000 crore.

India’s pig population is around 10 million which is quite small compared to other countries. Our vaccine is priced at a very low one dollar for two doses. The total cost of immunising even 60 percent of the total pig population works out to only Rs 36 crore, which in my opinion is a pittance and should be allocated by the government considering the fact that by immunising the pigs against cysticercosis we can eliminate the eventuality of epilepsy in humans caused by this parasite.”

Dr. Anand Kumar said that with the development of the vaccine against the tapeworm parasite, IIL has further strengthened its credentials not only as a producer of vaccines against virus and bacteria but also large in size disease causing protozoa and worms. On the collaboration with University of Melbourne, Dr Anand informed that the University had identified the protective antigen in their research earlier and provided the lead to Indian Immunologicals.”We cloned the genes for the protein in yeast and mass produced them to develop the vaccine,” he said.

By Satyapal Menon