SAFETY, HUMORAL IMMUNE RESPONSE AND FECAL SHEDDING OF MODIFIED-LIVE BOVINE CORONAVIRUS VACCINEs GIVEN TO HORSES

摘要

Equine coronavirus (ECoV) is considered an emerging enteric virus with reported morbidity rates ranging from 10-83% and a fatality rates ranging from 7-27% in adult horses.The objectives of the study were to assess the safety, humoral response and viral shedding of a commercially available modified-live bovine coronavirus (BCoV) vaccine given to healthy adult horses. Twelve confirmed healthy adult horses were vaccinated twice, 3 weeks apart, either orally, intra-nasally or intra-rectally. Two healthy unvaccinated horses served as sentinel controls. Following each vaccine administration, horses were monitored daily for physical abnormalities and onset and duration of BCoVshedding determined by quantitative PCR (qPCR) in nasal secretions and feces. Whole blood was collected every 3 weeks to determine BCoV-specific antibodies