Simultaneous immunization of cattle with foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and live anthrax vaccines do not interfere with FMD booster responses

Abstract

a b s t r a c tFoot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccination in Argentina is compulsory for most of the cattle population and conducted by certified veterinarians. This organized campaign may facilitate the controlled application of other vaccines against endemic diseases, provided immune responses against FMD are not hindered. There is no published information on the interference of immunity against FMD vaccines when applied together with a live bacterial vaccine. In this study we evaluated if the simultaneous application of a Bacillus anthracis live vaccine with a commercial tetravalent oil-based FMD vaccine (FMD-vac) used in Argentina, modifies the antibody booster responses against FMD virus (FMDV) in cattle. Two groups of 16 heifers with comparable liquid phase blocking ELISA (LPBE) titers were immunized with the FMD-vac alone or simultaneously with a commercial attenuated bovine anthrax Sterne strain vaccine (ABV). Serum samples were obtained at 0, 25, 60 and 90 days post vaccination (dpv) and specific antibodies against two FMDV vaccine strains were assessed by LPBE, avidity and IgG-isotype ELISAs. Bovines immunized with FMD-vac or FMDV-V + ABV responded with a boost in the LPBE antibody titers and avidity at 25 dpv, and remained within similar levels up to the end of the study. Animals vaccinated with FMD-vac + ABV had significantly higher LPBE titers at 25 dpv, compared to those immunized with FMD-vac alone; which was due to an increase in IgG2 titers. Overall, antibody titers elicited in both groups were similar and followed comparable kinetics over time. We conclude that the simultaneous application of a live anthrax vaccine with the current FMD tetravalent vaccine used in Argentina in cattle previously immunized against FMD, did not counteract the serological response induced by FMD vaccination.

Evaluation of serological response to foot-and-mouth disease vaccination in BLV infected cows

“…FMD has global consequences, costing an estimated USD $6–$21 billion each year in prevention expenditures and agricultural damage [ 9 ]. A significant portion of this cost is shouldered by the world’s poorest countries, which experience major economic losses from trade restrictions [ 21 ]. Uruguay, a small country where the main economy comes from agriculture and depends heavily on the export of products of animal origin, was free from FMD without vaccination until 2000.…”

Effect of simultaneous administration of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and anthrax vaccines on antibody response to FMD in sheep

“…Many successful co-applications of different agents consist of bacterial and viral antigens, such as rinderpest, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia [24], Pest Des Petits Ruminants, clostridial agents [25], Brucella [26], pneumo-3 virus, and sheeppox virus [27]. There are limited numbers of studies on FMD immunization together with other vaccines [101228]. On the other hand, in practice, many vaccines, including FMD, are routinely applied almost at the same time or within short periods of time, and interactions between these vaccines are not known.…”

“…There are many reports of the successful simultaneous use of FMD vaccines with other vaccines, such as vaccines against classical swine fever, rinderpest, rabies, hemorrhagic septicemia, brucellosis, parvovirus, and anthrax [6789101112]. On the other hand, negative results have been obtained with the simultaneous use of FMD vaccines with Vesicular stomatitis live vaccine [13].…”

“…Another important disease in farm animals is anthrax, which is a zoonotic disease caused by the resistant, Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus anthracis . The disease is endemic in many parts of the world [10]. Due to the higher economic importance of cattle, the spread of the disease among sheep may be underestimated, which could lead to an increased risk of sheep-to-human transmission of the disease [15].…”

“…Recently, a study [10] on the simultaneous vaccination with FMD and anthrax vaccines has been conducted in cattle. The immune response to the FMD vaccine was measured using liquid phase blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (LPBE) for the total antibody response and isotype and single dilution avidity ELISAs for the isotype antibody response and avidity.…”