Characterization of Cellular and Humoral Immunity to Commercial Cattle BVDV Vaccines in White-Tailed Deer

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) (WTD) play a central role at the human-livestock-wildlife interface, given their contribution to the spread of diseases that can affect livestock. These include a variety of bacterial, viral, and prion diseases with significant economic impact. Given the implications for WTD as potential reservoirs for a variety of diseases, methods for prevention and disease control in WTD are an important consideration.

Using commercial livestock vaccines against bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) in killed and modified live formulations, we test the ability of WTD to develop humoral and cellular immune responses following vaccination.

We demonstrate that, similar to cattle, WTD develop humoral immune responses to both killed and modified live formulations.

As the farmed deer industry and the use of livestock vaccines in non-approved species grow, this type of information will help inform and develop improved husbandry and veterinary care practices. Additionally, while we were unable to detect cell-mediated immune responses to the vaccine, we established PrimeFlow as a method to detect IFN-γ responses in specific T cell populations, adding another level of resolution to our ability to understand WTD immune responses.