Combined Active‐passive Immunisation of Horses Against Tetanus

Abstract

The protection afforded by active, passive and combined active-passive methods of immunisation against tetanus was examined in previously unimmunised horses. Three groups of horses were injected; one with tetanus toxoid alone, one with tetanus antitoxin alone and one in which the tetanus toxoid and tetanus antitoxin were injected simultaneously. The protection afforded was determined by monitoring the levels of antitoxin achieved in the horses by each of these methods. The results obtained demonstrated the effectiveness of the combined active-passive method in affording rapid and prolonged protection and enabled the examination of some of the factors involved in active and in passive immunisation when used alone. The advantages obtained by the use of the combined active-passive method in protecting unimmunised horses suddenly placed at risk to infection are outlined.

Vaccinology: Duration of immunity induced by an adjuvanted and inactivated equine influenza, tetanus and equine herpesvirus 1 and 4 combination vaccine

“…Moreover, in all individual horses the levels were higher than 0.02 IU/ml, although responses varied considerably. These results are in accordance with previous observations (2,7). Hence it is justified to conclude that the vaccine offers protection against tetanus infection for at least 1 year.…”

Duration of tetanus immunoglobulin G titres following basic immunisation of horses

“…The American Association of Equine Practitioners guidelines from 1995 [1] state that protective titres may be attained for up to 5 years, but recommend yearly boosters for all horses and additional vaccination if a horse sustains a wound more than 6 months after the last booster. The New Zealand recommendation of a 5-yearly booster interval may be based on a paper by Liefman [6] where the author recommends this booster interval in the discussion. However, when looking more closely at these data, only 4/20 horses in this data set were known to be vaccinated.…”

Equine vaccines in the United Kingdom: their application and efficacy

“…By following the manufacturers' recommendations most horses will achieve protective levels of toxinneutralising antibody after vaccination. A study performed by Liefman (1980) showed that protective immunity to tetanus toxin, elicited by vaccination with tetanus toxoid, lasted more than 12 months after a secondary vaccination.…”

“…A single dose of TAT should provide almost immediate protection, with levels of anti-tetanus toxin antibody peaking at about 24 h after administration. These levels then remain protective for approximately 3-4 weeks (Liefman 1980). Therapeutic use involves intravenous or intrathecal administration of approximately 150,000 i.u.…”