Safety and efficacy of Rift Valley fever Smithburn and Clone 13 vaccines in calves

Two modified live attenuated vaccines against the disease Rift Valley fever (RVF) have been tested for safety and efficacy in young calves. The RVF Smithburn vaccine produced in South Africa and used successfully to prevent and control the disease in endemic sub-Saharan countries was compared to the candidate vaccine RVF Clone 13. Five sero-negative calves per vaccine group were vaccinated with a single dose of each vaccine and tested for antibody response. All vaccinated calves were challenged with a highly virulent RVF virus together with five unvaccinated calves used as control of the challenge. Protection was confirmed in all vaccinated animals as they did not show any clinical signs typical of RVF. A good neutralizing antibody response was induced post-vaccination and no viraemia could be detected post-challenge in calves of both vaccine groups. All non-vaccinated control animals showed clinical symptoms of RVF, high viraemia and were euthanized. This study reported the first case of blindness in cattle resulting from virulent RVF virus infection in unvaccinated calves used as negative controls.