Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
2469229 | Veterinary Microbiology | 2007 | 7 Pages |
Because no suitable products are at the moment available to safely control the spread of BTV-16 in Europe, an inactivated vaccine was produced from the reference field isolate of bluetongue virus serotype 16. One group of six sheep was vaccinated subcutaneously with the inactivated vaccine twice, on days 0 and 28, whereas a second group of eight sheep was inoculated with saline solution and used as mock-vaccinated control animals. Seventy-eight days after the first vaccination, all sheep were inoculated subcutaneously with a suspension containing 106.3 TCID50 of a virulent reference BTV-16 isolate. Apart from a transient inflammatory reaction at the injection site, no adverse effects were reported following vaccination. All vaccinated animals developed high titres (7.3–9.3 log2(ED50%/50 μl)) of virus-specific neutralising antibodies and were resistant to challenge with BTV-16. Conversely, following challenge, control animals developed hyperthermia and long lasting high-titre viraemia.