Abstract
ABSTRACTAlthough rinderpest virus (RPV) has been eradicated in the wild, efforts are still continuing to restrict the extent to which live virus is distributed in facilities around the world and to prepare for any reappearance of the disease, whether through deliberate or accidental release. In an effort to find an alternative vaccine which could be used in place of the traditional live attenuated RPV strains, we have determined whether cattle can be protected from rinderpest by inoculation with vaccine strains of the related morbillivirus, peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV). Cattle were vaccinated with wild-type PPRV or either of two established PPRV vaccine strains, Nigeria/75/1 or Sungri/96. All animals developed antibody and T cell immune responses to the inoculated PPRV. However, only the animals given wild-type PPRV were protected from RPV challenge. Animals given PPRV/Sungri/96 were only partially protected, and animals given PPRV/Nigeria/75/1 showed no protection against RPV challenge. While sera from animals vaccinated with the vaccine strain of RPV showed cross-neutralizing ability against PPRV, none of the sera from animals vaccinated with any strain of PPRV was able to neutralize RPV although sera from animals inoculated with wild-type PPRV were able to neutralize RPV-pseudotyped vesicular stomatitis virus. IMPORTANCE Rinderpest virus has been eradicated, and it is only the second virus for which this is so. Significant efforts are still required to ensure preparedness for a possible escape of RPV from a laboratory or its deliberate release. Since RPV vaccine protects sheep and goats from PPRV, it is important to determine if the reverse is true as this would provide a non-RPV vaccine for dealing with suspected RPV outbreaks. This is probably the last in vivo study with live RPV that will be approved.
Highlights
Rinderpest virus has been eradicated, and it is only the second virus for which this is so
The peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) vaccine strains chosen for the study were the original vaccine strain derived from isolate PPRV/Nigeria/75/1 (N75) [5], used throughout Africa, the Middle East, and most of Asia, and the most commonly used of those derived in India, Sungri/96 (S96) [24]
Antibody responses to vaccination were checked by competition ELISA (Fig. 1a and b) and by virus neutralization titer (VNT) (Fig. 1c and d)
Summary
Rinderpest virus has been eradicated, and it is only the second virus for which this is so. Since RPV vaccine protects sheep and goats from PPRV, it is important to determine if the reverse is true as this would provide a non-RPV vaccine for dealing with suspected RPV outbreaks. The year 2011 saw the final declaration of the global eradication of rinderpest, one of the most devastating cattle diseases the world has known. Attenuated forms of PPRV were developed to use as vaccines [5, 6], and these are used globally to control PPR disease One such vaccine was shown to elicit an immune response in sheep and goats that would prevent the replication of RPV in those animals [7]. Protection against Rinderpest with PPRV reluctance to deploy rinderpest vaccine, even in the case of a suspected reappearance/release of rinderpest, would not be a problem if we could deploy one of the widely used PPRV vaccines instead
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