Studies on immunisation of suckling calves with dictol

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The immunisation of young milk-fed calves with two doses of the commercially available Dictyocaulus viviparus irradiated larval vaccine, Dictol, was studied. In the first experiment, vaccination of groups of pail-milk-fed calves at 3 and 7 weeks of age resulted in 96.7% reduction of lungworm burdens upon challenge when compared with non-vaccinated controls. Contemporaneous vaccination of calves aged 8 and 12 weeks resulted in a reduction in lungworm burden of 98.9% compared with controls of the same age. The clinical reaction upon challenge of both age groups was minimal compared with their respective controls. In the second experiment a group of six suckling calves were vaccinated with Dictol at 3 and 7 weeks of age and then challenged with infective larvae of D. viviparus together with non-vaccinated controls. At subsequent post-mortem examination the mean lungworm burdens of the vaccinates was 87% less than that of the controls. Some clinical reaction evidence by increased respiratory rates and bodyweight loss occurred in the vaccinates but this was not as severe as in the controls. At necropsy a concurrent pneumonia due to Mycoplasma spp. was present and it is suggested that this contributed to the poorer protection obtained compared with the pail-milk-fed calves of the fist experiment. In the third experiment a group of suckling calves were again vaccinated at 3 and 7 weeks of age and then exposed to a natural challenge together with parasite-naive controls. Although the level of challenge was relatively low, immunisation was apparently high successful as lungworms were completely absent in the vaccinates when examined at necropsy. In all three experiments numerous pulmonary lymphoid nodules, which are a useful guide to the immune status of calves, were present in the vaccinates and absent or scarce in the controls. It is concluded that the cumulative evidence from the three experiments suggest that immunisation against infections of D. viviparus of young milk-fed calves in the field may be a practical proposition.