Effect of diethylcarbamazine on cats given feline leukaemia virus vaccine

Leukocell (Norden Laboratories, Lincoln, NE, USA), a commercially available retroviral vaccine, is given to protect susceptible cats against feline leukaemia virus. Oral diethylcarbamazine, an immunomodulator used in the treatment of filariasis, when given with 1 ml i.m. Leukocell, increased titres and duration of serum antibodies to feline oncornavirus-associated cell membrane antigen and transient average monocyte counts in treated/vaccinated cats as compared to cats that received vaccine without diethylcarbamazine. These results may have implications for the development of more effective retroviral vaccination techniques for humans as well as for cats.