Protective immunity in cattle vaccinated with a commercial scale, inactivated, bivalent vesicular stomatitis vaccine.

A commercially prepared oil-adjuvanted, inactivated vaccine containing antigens of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) serotypes New Jersey (NJ) and Indiana 1 (IND1) was administered to calves to determine its ability to induce protective immunity. Weekly serological studies were conducted. The 12 calves in Group I were vaccinated once and challenge inoculated with VSV New Jersey 28 days later. Two calves were fully protected and two were partially protected. The five calves in Group II were vaccinated twice 40 days apart and challenge inoculated on 14 days post-second vaccination (dp2v) with VSV Indiana 1. All animals were fully protected. The 14 calves in Group III were vaccinated twice 91 days apart and challenge inoculated on 91 dp2v with VSV Indiana 1. All animals were fully protected. All control calves in each group became clinically ill. Two calves inoculated with VSV Indiana 1 challenge virus on day 0 and 11 weeks later showed clinical disease after each inoculation. No virus was isolated from the blood of four acutely ill calves 48 h after challenge inoculation.

Comparison of genome segments 2, 7 and 10 of bluetongue viruses serotype 2 for differentiation between field isolates and the vaccine strain.

Bluetongue (BT) virus serotype 2 (BTV 2) was first confirmed in Tunisia in February 2000 and has since spread northward and westward, infecting several other countries and islands, including Corsica, where clinical disease was reported in October 2000. BT was again reported on the Island in July 2001, some six months after a vaccination campaign against BTV 2. The molecular relationship between isolates of the BTV 2 Corsican wild-type viruses from 2000 and 2001, and the attenuated BTV 2 vaccine were determined by comparing corresponding sequences of genome segments 2, 7 and 10 with each other and with already published sequences available in the genome database. Complete genetic stability was observed between the isolates of the Corsican BTV 2. There was some divergence between the nucleotide sequences of segment 10 obtained from the wild-type and vaccine virus strains. Based on these differences, primers were selected that could be used in RT-PCR to differentiate between the wild-type and the vaccine viruses.