title: Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of the Rift Valley Fever Clone 13 vaccine in sheep.
abstract: The efficacy and safety of the naturally attenuated Rift Valley Fever (RVF) Clone 13 vaccine were evaluated in ovines in three different experiments involving 38 ewes at different stages of pregnancy, their offsprings and four rams. In Experiment 1, 4 rams and a total of 13 pregnant ewes were vaccinated and monitored during vaccination and after a challenge with a virulent RVF virus. The ewes were vaccinated at either 50 or 100 days of pregnancy and some were challenged after lambing. In Experiment 2, nine oestrus-synchronized ewes were vaccinated at 50 days of pregnancy and challenged at 100 days of pregnancy together with 5 unvaccinated ewes at the same stage of pregnancy. In Experiment 3, 16 oestrus-synchronized ewes were vaccinated with 3 different doses of the RVF Clone 13 vaccine and challenged together with unvaccinated pregnant ewes at either 30 or 50 days of pregnancy. The results from the three experiments indicated that the vaccine did not induce clinical manifestation of RVF such as abortion in pregnant ewes, teratogeny in their offsprings, or pyrexia in all vaccinated animals. Vaccination with RVF Clone 13 vaccine also prevented clinical RVF following virulent challenge at different stages of pregnancy while unvaccinated control ewes showed pyrexia, aborted or died of RVF. A vaccine dose-response effect was also observed.
authors.affiliation: Onderstepoort Biological Products Ltd., Private Bag X07, Onderstepoort 0110, South Africa. Baptiste.dungu@galvmed.org
authors.forename: Baptiste
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dungu
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Louw
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lubisi
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.forename: Beate F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: von Teichman
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bouloy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing / Q000097:blood; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D004306:Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D012295:Rift Valley Fever / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012296:Rift Valley fever virus / Q000276:immunology*; D012756:Sheep / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D012757:Sheep Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014611:Vaccination / Q000662:veterinary*; D014613:Vaccines, Attenuated / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing; D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D014613:Vaccines, Attenuated; D014765:Viral Vaccines