Efficacy of strain RB51 vaccine in heifers against experimental brucellosis

With the goal of providing an additional tool for controlling bovine brucellosis in Brazil and evaluating the full calf dose in adult cattle, the efficacy of the rough Brucella abortus strain RB51 vaccine was tested in heifers. Thirty-three females of approximately 24 months of age were divided in two groups: one group (n = 20) received the RB51 vaccine and the other group (n = 13) were used as non-vaccinated control. Animals in the vaccinated group were split in two sub-groups. One sub-group (n = 12) was vaccinated subcutaneously with 1.5 × 1010 colony forming units (CFU) of RB51 at Day 0 of the experiment and the other sub-group (n = 8) was vaccinated subcutaneously with 1.6 × 1010 CFU of RB51 at 60 days of gestation (Day 260 of the experiment). All cattle were challenged between 6 and 7 months of pregnancy with 3 × 108 CFU of the virulent strain 2308 of B. abortus by the conjunctival route. Vaccination with RB51 vaccine did not result in the production of any antibodies against the O-side chain of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), as measured by conventional serological tests (rose bengal plate agglutination test (RBPAT), standard tube agglutination test (STAT), and 2-mercaptoethanol test (2ME)). A total of 25% cumulative incidence of abortions was found in the vaccinated group, whereas in the control group the cumulative incidence was 62%. B. abortus RB51 was not isolated from any sample, and no abortions were produced by RB51 vaccination of females at 60 days of pregnancy. The results indicate that vaccination with RB51 prevented 59.4% of abortions, 58.6% of cow infections, and 61.0% of fetal infections. The relative risk (RR) revealed that non-vaccinated animals have 2.462 (95% CI 1.029–5.889) times higher risk of aborting than RB51-vaccinated animals.