Editor’s note: A letter to the editor from Fort Dodge Animal Health cited inaccuracies in this article and has been included below.

A new West Nile virus (WNV) equine recombinant canarypox vaccine awaits USDA approval; once available, it could pave the way for a new generation of equine vaccines in the United States. Merial has been developing this Recombitek equine WNV technology for three years. The company assembled a group of researchers, clinicians, and private practitioners in New Orleans, La., on Nov. 19, 2003, to review WNV and the research behind the technology.

Recombitek would be the first recombinant canarypox DNA vaccine to be approved for use in horses in the United States, and it would provide another WNV vaccination option. Fort Dodge Animal Health’s (FDAH) West Nile Innovator vaccine is a killed virus-type product. Another Merial recombinant canarypox DNA vaccine for influenza, Proteq Flu, was approved for use in the European Union in 2003. Several small animal vaccines using the canarypox vector have been used for over a decade in the United States