Brief communication
Antibody response in vaccinated pregnant mares to recent G3BP[12] and G14P[12] equine rotaviruses
1 Epizootic Research Center, Equine Research Institute, Japan Racing Association, 1400-4 Shiba, Shimotsuke, Tochigi, 329-0412, Japan
2 Research Team for Viral Diseases, National Institute of Animal Health, 3-1-5 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0856, Japan
3 Hidaka Training and Research Center, Japan Racing Association, 535-13 Nishicha, Urakawa-cho, Urakawa-gun, Hokkaido, 057-0171, Japan
4 Hidaka Agriculture Mutual Aid Association, 8-71 Hokusei-cho, Niikappu-cho, Niikappu-gun, Hokkaido, 059-2403, Japan
Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 2012, 54:63 doi:10.1186/1751-0147-54-63
Published: 6 November 2012Abstract
Background
Both the G3P[12] and the G14P[12] type of equine group A rotavirus (RVA) have recently become predominant in many countries, including Japan. G3 types are classified further into G3A and G3B. The G3A viruses have been circulating in Europe, Australia, and Argentina, and the G3B viruses have been circulating in Japan. However, only an inactivated vaccine containing a single G3BP[12] strain is commercially available in Japan. To assess the efficacy of the current vaccine against recently circulating equine RVA strains, we examined antibody responses in pregnant mares to recent G3BP[12] and G14P[12] strains by virus neutralization test.
Findings
After vaccination in five pregnant mares, the geometric mean serum titers of virus-neutralizing antibody to recent G3BP[12] strains increased 5.3- to 7.0-fold and were similar to that against homologous vaccine strain. Moreover, antibody titers to recent G14P[12] strains were also increased 3.0- to 3.5-fold.
Conclusions
These results suggest that inoculation of mares with the current vaccine should provide foals with virus-neutralizing antibodies against not only the G3BP[12] but also the G14P[12] RVA strain via the colostrum.
