Interface between Maternal Antibodies and Natural Challenge for Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV) in Holstein Heifers

Abstract

Background: Newborn calves are agammaglobulinemic, immunosuppressed and immunologically immature at birth. The passive immune transfer is fundamental to protect calves against pathogens. The decay of maternal antibodies precedes the immune maturation at puberty enhancing the susceptibility of calves to infections caused by BVDV. Then, the objective of this research was to evaluate the interface between passive and active immunity for Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV) in Holstein dairy heifers in the first 13 months of age to detect susceptibility periods and establish prophylactic measures on prevention of Bovine Viral Diarrhea. Materials, Methods & Results: Sera were analyzed from 585 heifers by serum neutralization (SN) and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the p80 protein of BVDV. Heifers were categorized according to their age by the month of life. Heifers were seropositive (100%) from 1 st to 13

Neutralizing antibody titers against field strains of bovine viral diarrhea virus after vaccination with three commercial vaccines

“…Although the interaction between vaccine groups and sampling times was not significant (P = 0.11), especially in groups 2 and 3, antibody titers did not increase quickly following the second administration of vaccines. This outcome can also be seen in different studies in which killed vaccines were used (21,25). In a general approach, using killed whole virion vaccines is expected to have a considerably higher titer after booster vaccination.…”

An Assessment of Secondary Clinical Disease, Milk Production and Quality, and the Impact on Reproduction in Holstein Heifers and Cows from a Single Large Commercial Herd Persistently Infected with Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus Type 2

“…There was an abrupt rise in the number of p80 positive to 70% of the calves being serum positive after 120 days of age. This was associated with a higher mortality of calves in the post-weaning period due to anaplasmosis and babesiosis [27]. In 2015, mucosal disease was observed in a heifer during the post-weaning period.…”