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Title: A Live Vaccine from Brucella abortus Strain 82 for Control of Cattle Brucellosis in the Russian Federation

Author
item IVANOV, ANATOLY - Federal Center For The Toxicological And Radiation Safety Of Animals
item SALMAKOV, KONSTANTIN - Federal Center For The Toxicological And Radiation Safety Of Animals
item Olsen, Steven
item PLUMB, GLENN - US Department Of Interior

Submitted to: Animal Health Research Reviews
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/12/2011
Publication Date: 6/15/2011
Citation: Ivanov, A.V., Salmakov, K.M., Olsen, S.C., Plumb, G.E. 2011. A live vaccine from Brucella abortus strain 82 for control of cattle brucellosis in the Russian Federation. Animal Health Research Reviews. 12(1):113-121.

Interpretive Summary: Brucella abortus is an intracellular pathogen that causes reproductive losses in cattle and zoonotic infections in people. Regulatory programs in domestic livestock, of which vaccination of livestock is usually a critical element, are the most cost-efficient way to control Brucella abortus and prevent human infection. This paper summarizes research in Russia over the last 40 years to develop and utilize new brucellosis vaccines for cattle. Scientists in Russia developed a brucellosis vaccine based on serologic properties that was beneficial for controlling disease in Russian cattle under field conditions. Vaccination schedules for this vaccine in Russia differ dependent upon the brucellosis status of the area, with protocols in Russia being quite different from recommendations for use of B. abortus vaccines in the United States. This data will be of interest to regulatory personnel, people with responsibilities for management of wildlife reservoirs of brucellosis, livestock owners, and other parties with interests regarding brucellosis management.

Technical Abstract: During the first half of the 20th century, widespread regulatory efforts to control cattle brucellosis (Brucella abortus) in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were essentially nonexistent, and control was limited to selective test and slaughter of serologic agglutination reactors. By the 1950s, 2 to 3 million cattle were being vaccinated annually with the strain 19 vaccine, but because this vaccine induced strong, long-term titers on agglutination tests that interfered with identification of cattle infected with field strains of B. abortus, use in cattle was eliminated in 1970. Soviet scientists then began a comprehensive program of research to identify vaccines with high immunogenicity, weak responses on agglutination tests, and less pathogenicity in humans, as a foundation for widespread control of cattle brucellosis. While several new vaccines that induced weak or no responses on serologic agglutination tests were identified by experiments in guinea pigs and cattle, a large body of experimental and field studies suggested that the smooth-rough strain SR82 vaccine combined the desired weak agglutination test responses with comparatively higher efficacy against brucellosis. In 1974, prior to widespread use of strain SR82 vaccine, 5,300+ cattle farms were known to be infected with brucellosis across the Russian Federation. By January 2008, only 68 cattle farms in 18 regions were known to be infected with B. abortus, and strain SR82 continues to be the most widely and successfully used vaccine in many regions of the Russian Federation.