A preliminary evaluation of factors affecting an experimental system for vaccination-and-challenge with Haemonchus...

A preliminary evaluation of factors affecting an experimental system for vaccination-and-challenge with Haemonchus contortus in sheep. International Journal for Parasitology 19: 169-175. Studies were made with Haemonchus contortus in sheep to ascertain the influence of a range of factors in the domain of the host, the parasite or the vaccine on the formulation of protocols for vaccination-and-challenge to be used in identifying protective immunogens. The results corroborate earlier findings that protective immunity can follow vaccination with homogenates of parasites and show that initial processing of parasites for a vaccine leaves protective immunogen in a functional state. Sonicates of adult worms produced protective immunity and were identified as raw stock in which to prospect for candidate immunogens. By contrast, sonicates of infective larvae and exsheathing fluid invoked no significant protection and were not accredited for the same purpose. In an experiment unaccompanied by protective immunity, ewes contained lower worm burdens than castrate males indicating that vaccination experiments should be made with hosts of one sex only. Again in an experiment unaccompanied by protective immunity, Freund's complete adjuvant increased susceptibility to infection compared with Freund's incomplete adjuvant or no adjuvant implying a profound and persistent interference from killed mycobacteria on resistance against H. contortus.