Next time you eat eggs, spare a thought for Professor Soeripto. In the 1980s he made an incredible discovery,
which means today, poultry products are healthier for consumers around the world.
He made this finding at the University of Melbourne while studying under the Australian Government’s
Colombo Plan scholarships – today knows as the Australia Awards.
Back in the 1980s a war chest of antibiotics was an essential weapon in the fight against Chronic Respiratory Disease
in commercial chickens. If a flock became infected with the most common strain, known as Mycoplasma Gallisepticum
farmers stood to lose everything.
We, as part of our investigations discovered that strains of MG were becoming resistant to the major class of antibiotics
that we used for treatment. I realized the best way of approaching this would be to try and develop a vaccine
As a PHD candidate in bacteriology, Professor Soreipto exposed the bacteria to a particular chemical.
He discovered a way to grow a vaccine at the lower temperatures in a chicken’s trachea.
This allowed the bird to create antibodies without getting infected
Today the vaccine is known as TS-11.
When it looked as though TS-11 was a promising vaccine candidate what we had to do was a lot more investigative work required
by the regulators in order to register the vaccine both here in Australia and overseas
We decided to reorganize ourselves and form an institutional centre within the University of Melbourne
and because of this we created the Institute called the Asia Pacific Centre for Animal Health, or APCAR.
Professor Soreipto’s discovery also launched a new company. In 1989 scientific entrepreneurs started Bioproperties
with the sole purpose of working with APCAR to commercialize the new vaccine on a global scale.
Today, over 100 million doses of the vaccine are used worldwide every year.
Here at Kinross farm, we run a large commercial egg business.
We farm approximately 770,000 layers across about 11 sites in Victoria.
The farm was established by my parents in 1965
My understanding from my parents and older veterinarians is that pre the early 90s the industry
was a heavy user of antibiotics.
The adoption of the MG vaccine by the egg industry has been universal. It would be well over 90% of all birds
today would be covered by the MG vaccine, so in this market place we can’t be without the MG vaccine.
They used to bring antibiotics in by the boatload in containers to control this infection,
and now this doesn’t happen.
The reduction in use in antibiotics by the poultry industry has public health implications.
And I think that’s one of the major benefits of the development of these vaccines.
Professor Soreipto has also achieved his dream of helping farmers in developing countries.
The vaccine reduces their losses, securing livelihoods and jobs.
What started as an Australian Government scholarship back in the 1980s
has become a healthier way of managing a common disease affecting commercial chickens.
This is benefiting poultry farmers and consumers around the world.