title: Development of a Staphylococcus aureus vaccine against mastitis in dairy cows. II. Field trial.
abstract: A recently described new Staphylococcus aureus vaccine "MASTIVAC I" (Patent no. PTC/IL98/00627) against S. aureus udder infection elicited protection against experimentally induced infection in cows. In the present paper we describe a large-scale vaccination field trial. A total of 452 Israeli Holstein heifers were included in the study over two consecutive years. Approximately half of the heifers (228) were vaccinated while the others (224) served as a control group. Antibody response was detected in all vaccinated animals 4-5 weeks post-primary immunization and it was sustained throughout the experimental period (300-330 days). S. aureus infection could be detected in only 3 out of 228 animals (1.3%) in the vaccinated group and in 6 out of 224 (2.7%) in the control group. These numbers were too low to be statistically evaluated. However, when somatic cell counts (SCC) and milk yields were considered, a significant difference was found between the two groups, namely, the vaccinated cows in first and second lactation had 42 and 54%, respectively, lower SCCs and milk yields 0.5 kg per day higher than the non-vaccinated control cows. These results suggest that the new vaccine elicits a non-specific health improvement of the udder in addition to specific protection against S. aureus.
authors.affiliation: National Mastitis Reference Center, Bet Dagon, Israel. gleit_vs@netvision.net.il
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Leitner
authors.forename: Nathan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yadlin
authors.forename: Evgenia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lubashevsy
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ezra
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Glickman
authors.forename: Marcelo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chaffer
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Winkler
authors.forename: Arthur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saran
authors.forename: Zeev
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Trainin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D002417:Cattle; D005260:Female; D007774:Lactation; D008414:Mastitis, Bovine / Q000276:immunology*; D008892:Milk; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000662:veterinary*; D013209:Staphylococcal Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D013209:Staphylococcal Vaccines