Hantaviruses are health-threatening infectious agents causing hemoragic fevers with renal syndrome and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in humans. In Europe, the hantavirus Puumala and Dobrava have been identified as the main pathogens. There is an urgent need for the development of a bivalent vaccine protecting occupational risk groups and inhabitants of hyperendemic regions against infections by these two viruses. Different approaches based on recombinant DNA techniques will be followed by the partners to produce immunogenic proteins / naked DNA. The partners aim to develop new animal models for vaccination and challenge studies, to establish relevant markers for the monitoring of hantavirus infections in the animals, and to characterize the B and T cell responses against infectious virus as well as the delivered immunogens. In the animal models, protective immune responses induced by various immunogens will be comparatively evaluated by virus-challenge experiments. The principal objective of the project is the development of a European candidate vaccine and its recommendation for further development.

Consortium


Project co-ordinator:
Prof. D.H. Kruger, Humboldt University School of Medicine (Charite), Berlin, Germany.

Partners:
Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, Stockholm, Sweeden.
Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Institute of Biotechnology, Vilnius, Lithuania.
National Defence Research Establishment, Umea, Sweeden.