The curious tale of how crocodiles farmed for designer leather handbags are helping to develop human anti-arboviral vaccines

The Australian saltwater crocodile farming industry is currently blighted by the mosquito-transmitted Kunjin virus, infection with which blemishes, and therefore, devalues, the hides. Skins that might otherwise be turned into luxury leathers fashion items are now often deemed to be next to worthless. The economic impact to northern Australia has spurred research into a possible vaccine with which to immunise farmed crocodiles to prevent them from becoming infected and therefore limit damage to their skins. A trial of two candidate vaccines is scheduled to start later this year. Moreover, there are plans for this crocodile vaccination model to be exploited to develop similar vaccines against other arboviruses – including dengue, Zika and more obscure native species that pose a health threat not to reptiles but to humans. Thus, the crocodile skin luxury handbag-driven vaccine technology may, as a by-product, find a niche in the public healthcare sector at home and overseas. While the feasibility of using crocodiles as ‘guinea pigs’ for vaccination is recognised, of course it takes a lot longer for human vaccines to receive approval, so clinical trials are still several years away.