Vaccination against bovine schistosomiasis japonica with highly X-irradiated schistosomula.
Cercariae of the Chinese mainland strain of Schistosoma japonicum were used. Eighteen cattle, divided into six groups of three each, were immunized with schistosomula transformed from cercariae exposed to three different doses of X-irradiation (24, 36, and 48 kR). The immunization was given either once, twice, or thrice, and the number of immunizing schistosomula was 10,000 or more in each immunization. The immunized cattle were challenged with 500 normal cercariae. Five native cattle were similarly infected with normal cercariae as controls. All cattle were killed 32-33 days after challenge or infection, and the worms were obtained by perfusion. The mean worm reduction in the 18 experimental animals varied from 42.1 to 96.0%. The mean percent worm reduction of the six experimental groups varied from 54.8 to 87.1. The reduction was greater with increasing numbers of immunizations, and was higher in the groups immunized with schistosomula exposed to 36 kR than in those exposed to 24 or 48 kR. Statistical analyses showed that all immunized groups yielded significantly fewer worms than controls. However, the three doses of X-irradiation (24, 36, and 48 kR) had no significant effect for a fixed number of immunizations (1, 2, or 3). The means for both two and three immunizations were significantly different from the mean for one immunization, although they were not significantly different from each other.
D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D012549:Schistosoma japonicum / Q000528:radiation effects; D012552:Schistosomiasis / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D014611:Vaccination / Q000662:veterinary*; D014965:X-Rays