Comparative immune responses of pups following modified live virus vaccinations against canine parvovirus

Canine parvovirus (CPV) is the most important viral cause of enteritis and mortality in pups. Evaluation and monitoring of pre- and post-vaccine immune responses may help to determine the efficacy of the current vaccination schedule being followed in pups in India. This study aimed to evaluate and monitor the pre- and post-vaccine immune responses of CPV vaccinated pups using hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay. The neutralizing antibody titer levels were also detected using serum neutralization test (SNT).

The pups were categorized into two groups, the double booster and the single booster groups. In this study, serum samples were subjected to HI and SNT for measuring the CPV antibody titer at frequent intervals for up to 6 months from 27 healthy pups following primary and booster CPV vaccinations.

The antibody titers in double booster pups reached their peaks at the 21^st day after the second booster vaccination with a geometric mean (GM) of 3.57. The antibody titers in single booster pups reached their peaks at the 21^st day after the first booster vaccination with a lower GM of 3.18.

The double booster pups maintained a higher immune response throughout the period of the study compared to single booster pups though the difference in titers was not statistically significant. SNT results indicated that the raised antibody titer was also able to yield virus-neutralizing antibodies. No interfering maternally derived antibodies were found in the pups at the age of primary vaccination (45^th day) in our study. Therefore, the second booster vaccination may be useful in maintaining the protective titer for a prolonged period.