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Title: An alternate delivery system improves vaccine performance against foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV)

Author
item PANDYA, MITAL - Oak Ridge Institute For Science And Education (ORISE)
item Pacheco Tobin, Juan
item Bishop, Elizabeth
item Kenney, Mary
item MILWARD, FRANCIS - Merial Animal Health
item DOEL, TIMOTHY - Merial Animal Health
item Golde, William

Submitted to: Vaccine
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/18/2012
Publication Date: 4/1/2012
Citation: Pandya, M., Pacheco Tobin, J., Bishop, E.A., Kenney, M.A., Milward, F., Doel, T., Golde, W.T. 2012. An alternate delivery system improves vaccine performance against foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). Vaccine. 30(20):3106-3111.

Interpretive Summary: In the event of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United States, it is anticipated that vaccination of susceptible livestock will be an important part of the control strategy. Deployment of vaccine will be challenging, as the virus spreads very rapidly when there are naïve populations, like the livestock herds in the US. Vaccination of thousands of animals will present large logistical challenges and availability of enough doses of vaccine could be a limiting factor in the effectiveness of the outbreak control measures. In this manuscript we address both of these issues. We have tested an automated vaccine delivery device, the DermVac, for efficacy in controlled vaccine trials with the presently available vaccine. The intradermal delivery of vaccine leads to effective protection at early times (7 days following vaccination). The device can rapidly deliver vaccine to animals being processed through standard means. Most importantly, the potency of the vaccine is enhanced when delivered with the DermaVac. These data provide those tasked with responding to outbreaks of FMDV in the US with necessary information to make informed decisions about responding to FMD.

Technical Abstract: Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) causes vesicular disease of cloven-hoofed animals with severe agricultural and economic implications. One of the most highly infectious and contagious livestock pathogens known, the disease spreads rapidly in naïve populations making it critical to have rapidly acting vaccines. Needle inoculation of killed virus vaccine is an efficient method of swiftly vaccinating large numbers of animals at once, either in eradication efforts or in outbreak situations in disease free countries, although, this requires utilizing the same needle repeatedly to be a rapid method. Here we present studies using a needle free system for vaccination with killed virus vaccine, FMDV strain O1 Manisa, as a rapid and consistent delivery platform. Cattle were vaccinated using a commercially available vaccine formulation at the manufacturer’s recommended dose as well as four and sixteen fold less antigen load per dose. Animals were challenged intradermalingually with live virulent virus, homologous strain O1 Manisa at various times following vaccination. All non-vaccinated control cattle exhibited clinical disease, including fever, viremia and lesions, specifically vesicle formation. Cattle vaccinated with the 1/16x and 1/4x doses using the needle free device were protected when challenged at both 7 and 28 days after vaccination. These data suggest that effective protection against disease can be achieved with 1/16 of the recommended vaccine dose when delivered using the needle free, intradermal delivery system, indicating the current vaccine stockpile can be extended by many fold using this system.