Immunomodulating effects of levamisole in chicks immunocompromised by infectious bursal disease virus

Immunomodulating effects of levamisole in experimentally IBD induced immunosuppressed 7-days old White Leghorn chicks have been observed. For this, infectious bursal disease (IBD) virus (Poona strain) was used. All the chicks were immunised with sheep red blood cells to monitor antibody responses. A group of chicks each from infected (PS-L) and uninfected (PBS-L) groups were given 4 injections of levamisole hydrochloride at the daily dose of 1.5 mg per 100 g body weight starting from the second day post inoculation with IBD virus. Serum samples were collected and the haemagglutination titre against sheep red blood cells was determined. IBDV infected chicks showed a significant decrease in HA titre compared with uninfected control chicks. In levamisole treated IBDV infected birds the HA titres were comparable to those of uninfected controls. However, uninfected chicks treated with levamisole showed no significant increase in HA titre to SRBC compared with uninfected untreated control chicks.