Veterinary researchers' vaccine becomes international standard

A brucellosis vaccine developed in the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine has been endorsed as the official brucellosis vaccine by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Official approval of the RB51 vaccine means that it will likely replace the existing vaccine as the worldwide standard in protection against brucellosis, a global animal and human health problem that causes millions of dollars in production losses each year.

Brucellosis, a bacterial disorder caused by the Brucella abortus organism, is largely controlled in the United States, yet it remains a significant threat in developing areas of the world. Brucellosis can be caught from eating undercooked meat or dairy products from infected animals or by handling infected tissues. In humans, it causes undulant fever. In animals, it results in the abortion of infected fetuses.

Much of the brucellosis work done in the VMRCVM over the past 10 years has been structured upon a mutant strain of Brucella abortus developed by biomedical sciences professor Dr. Gerhardt Schurig. The mutant strain vaccine is unable to cause disease and can be distinguished serologically from infected animals in vaccinated animals, a feature which enables regulatory agencies to avoid costly over-condemnations and expensive retesting.

The college has conducted almost $1 million worth of research into brucellosis over the past 10 years and has received five major grants from the USDA and other funding agencies.

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Food for the imagination

Writer Simone Poirier-Bures of the English department joined six other Virginia Tech faculty writers who read from their works to raise funds for world hunger relief at Virginia Tech's Volume Two Bookstore on Nov. 14.

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EPA honors engineer for pollution research

Clifford Randall, an endowed professor of civil engineering at Virginia Tech, recently received the Mathias Medal from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for his research on Chesapeake Bay pollution.

Since the early 1970s, Randall has conducted much of the leading research on the pollution of the bay by nutrient--phosphorus and nitroge--from wastewater treatment plants and other sources. Randall's work has been instrumental in reducing phosphorus output from treatment plants to the bay by 40 percent.

Randall has been director of the university's Occoquan Watershed Monitoring Program since 1972 and division leader of the university's environmental engineering program since 1979. In 1994, Randall received the Governor's Salute to Excellence from the State of Maryland for his efforts to protect and improve the bay.

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Architecture and urban studies dean steps down

Patricia Edwards has announced that she will step down as dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Studies, effective June 30, to return to full-time teaching. Edwards accepted the dean position in 1994 with the stipulation that she would serve for a three-year term only.

Provost Peggy Meszaros has named Charles Steger, vice president for development and university relations, to head a search committee to select a new dean.

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