Comparison of two commercial ovine Campylobacter vaccines and an experimental bacterin in guinea pigs inoculated with Campylobacter jejuni

Abstract

Objective-To compare efficacy of 2 commercial ovine Campylobacter vaccines and anexperimental bacterin in guinea pigs following IP inoculation with Campylobacter jejuniIA3902.Animals-51 female guinea pigs.Procedures-Pregnant and nonpregnant animals were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatmentgroups and administered a commercial Campylobacter vaccine labeled for preventionof campylobacteriosis in sheep via two 5-mL doses 14 days apart (vaccine A; n = 13),another labeled for prevention of campylobacteriosis via two 2-mL doses (vaccine B; 12),an experimental bacterin prepared from the challenge strain (12), or a sham vaccine (14).Ten days later, animals were challenged IP with C jejuni IA3902; 48 hours later, animalswere euthanized, complete necropsy was performed, and blood and tissue samples wereobtained for bacteriologic culture.Results-Administration of vaccine B or the experimental bacterin, but not vaccine A, significantlyreduced 48-hour infection rates versus administration of the sham vaccine. Asignificantly reduced 48-hour infection rate was associated with administration of vaccine Bindependent of pregnancy status.Conclusions and Clinical Relevance-Administration of vaccine B significantly reducedinfection in guinea pigs challenged with C jejuni IA3902, similar to a homologous bacterin.Results suggested that vaccine B or an autogenous product may be effective in controllingovine campylobacteriosis caused by this emergent abortifacient strain. Bacteriologicculture of blood, liver, bile, and uterus in nonpregnant guinea pigs 48 hours after inoculationmay be a useful screening tool for comparing efficacy of C jejuni vaccines.