Attenuation of Eimeria species: further characterisation of two lines of Eimeria mitis

Abstract

The immunogenicity of a 'precocious' and attenuated line (HP10) of Eimeria mitis was studied and the stability of attenuation of two precocious lines was compared with that of an embryo-adapted line. Chicks housed in wire-floored cages and given 1 X 10(5) oocysts of the HP10 line were protected against challenge with the parent Houghton strain and two field strains, but remained partially susceptible to the Durham and one other field strain. However, when chicks were kept in litter pens so that reinfection could occur freely, inoculation with as few as 1 X 10(3) oocysts of the precocious line resulted in complete immunity to both the Houghton and Durham strains for at least five weeks afterwards. The stability of attenuation of the precocious and embyro-adapted lines was examined by relaxing the selection pressures used to produce attenuation and then testing the virulence of the resulting lines. The precocious lines remained attenuated after several consecutive relaxed passages, in contrast to the embyro-adapted line which showed a marked reversion to virulence after six passages in chickens.