While officials have yet to pinpoint the cause of the outbreak in Germany that has killed at least 14 people and sickened more than 1,000 others, scientists have long pointed to cows as the true source of E. coli-related food illness epidemics worldwide. There are not yet any guarantees that the vaccine Mr. McRae’s company is producing would be effective against other strains, although it is considering conducting tests to determine that.
Each vaccine costs about $10 a head plus extra for the veterinarian required to supervise its delivery. The frequency required to keep E. coli counts under control depends on a given cow’s situation. Beef cows should be vaccinated at six weeks of age and then twice more while at feed lots, which are notorious for spreading the bacteria because animals are packed into close quarters. Cows and bulls used for breeding in both beef and dairy should be vaccinated annually.
Now the company needs to persuade farmers – or governments – to buy it. Some Canadian farmers have had access to the vaccine, and several thousand cows have been inoculated, but Mr. McRae suspects the cost will be a problem.
Outbreaks like the one in Germany may convince governments around the world of the need to subsidize the vaccine to protect trading markets and public health. More research is needed to understand whether this vaccine is effective against more than one strain of E. coli. Dr. Finlay, Econiche’s creator, said he doesn’t know whether it would work against O104, the destructive strain sweeping Germany.
In fact, very little is known about the bacteria, which is in only its second food-borne outbreak. Keith Warriner, a University of Guelph food scientist, applied for a grant to study the strain just before the German outbreak struck.
“The main problem with this group of bacteria is that nobody has done any research,” he said. “We had a notion of it 30 years ago and we knew [E. coli] was evolving very rapidly. We knew this was a problem. We didn’t think it was going to hit us this hard this soon,” he said, adding: “This is a consequence of not acting on the information we had.”
With a report from Adrian Morrow
