Roadmap for the development of candidate vaccines for liver fluke

What are we trying to achieve and why? What is the problem we are trying to solve?

• What effect does Fasciola infection have on the diagnosis and control of other livestock pathogens?
• How can this relationship be utilised to enhance disease control in a holistic fashion

What are the scientific and technological challenges (knowledge gaps needing to be addressed)?

Funding for such studies which have a less obvious “end￾product” than more applied vaccine studies

What approaches could/should be taken to address the research question?

Clearly communicate the utility of such studies

What else needs to be done before we can solve this need?

Incorporate sophisticated epidemiological modelling studies along with immunological insights into co-infection

Existing knowledge including successes and failures

• F. hepatica infection has been documented as decreasing the responsiveness of cattle to diagnostic tests for bovine tuberculosis, but also decreasing bacterial load in co-infected cattle
• The epidemiological significance of these effects needs to be dissected and understood.
• Some evidence is beginning to be compiled concerning interaction between liver fluke and other pathogens including Mycobacterium paratuberculosis, and Calicophoron daubneyi