Longitudinal humoral immune response and maternal immunity in horses after a single live-attenuated vaccination against African horse sickness during the disease outbreak in Thailand

Vet World Vol.16 August-2023 Article-15

Research Article

Veterinary World, 16(8): 1690-1694

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2023.1690-1694

Nutnaree Kunanusont¹, Machimaporn Taesuji¹, Usakorn Kulthonggate¹, Khate Rattanamas², Thanongsak Mamom³, Kosin Thongsri⁴, Thawijit Phannithi², and Sakchai Ruenphet²

1. Clinic for Horse, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mahanakorn University of Technology, 140 Cheum-Sampan Rd. Nong Chock, Bangkok 10530 Thailand.
2. Department of Immunology and Virology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mahanakorn University of Technology, 140 Cheum-Sampan Rd. Nong Chock, Bangkok 10530 Thailand.
3. Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mahanakorn University of Technology, 140 Cheum-Sampan Rd. Nong Chock, Bangkok 10530 Thailand.
4. Department of Veterinary and Remount, Division of First Livestock and Agriculture, The Veterinary Hospital, Royal Thai Army, 57 Koh Samrong Subdistrict, Mueang District, Kanchanaburi Province 71000 Thailand.

Background and Aim: African horse sickness (AHS) has become a newly emerging disease after an outbreak in northeastern Thailand in March 2020. Mass vaccination in horses with live-attenuated AHS virus (AHSV) vaccine is essential for AHS control and prevention. This study aimed to monitor the longitudinal humoral immune response before and after a single vaccination using a live-attenuated vaccine against AHS in stallions, mares, and pregnant mares, including maternal immunity in foals born from pregnant mares during the outbreak in Thailand.

Materials and Methods: A total of 13 stallions and 23 non-pregnant and 21 pregnant mares were vaccinated with live-attenuated AHSV vaccines. Serum samples from selected horses were collected on the day of vaccination and 1, 6, 8, 9, 10, and 12-months post-vaccination. Furthermore, seven serum samples of foals born from vaccinated pregnant mares were collected on parturition date and 1, 3, and 6-months old. The antibody titer against AHS in all collected serum samples was evaluated using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. All data were analyzed for mean and standard deviation for each group of samples using a spreadsheet program. Antibody titers between times were analyzed using a one-way analysis of variance as repeated measurement, and antibody titers between horse groups were analyzed using a general linear model for statistically significant differences when p < 0.05.

Results: In stallion and non-pregnant mare groups, there were no statistically significant differences in antibody titers in all 6 time periods after vaccination. The antibody titer in the pregnant mare group showed a non-statistically significant difference between each gestation stage, except at 8 months post-vaccination. Furthermore, increasing antibody titers on days 1 and 3 after receiving colostrum in foals indicate the major role of transcolostral antibody transfer for AHS.

Conclusion: This study demonstrated that a single AHS vaccination using a live-attenuated vaccine could stimulate high antibody titers sufficient for AHS control and prevention during the outbreak in Thailand. Similarly, the antibody response of vaccinated horses of both genders, including various stages of pregnant mares, was statistically not different. Keywords: African horse sickness, antibody, maternal immunity, stage of gestation, vaccination.

Keywords: African horse sickness, antibody, maternal immunity, stage of gestation, vaccination.

How to cite this article: Kunanusont N, Taesuji M, Kulthonggate U, Rattanamas K, Mamom T, Thongsri K, Phannithi T, and Ruenphet S (2023) Longitudinal humoral immune response and maternal immunity in horses after a single live-attenuated vaccination against African horse sickness during the disease outbreak in Thailand, Veterinary World, 16(8): 1690-1694.

Received: 13-04-2023 Accepted: 10-07-2023 Published online: 19-08-2023

Corresponding author: Sakchai Ruenphet E-mail: rsakchai@hotmail.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2023.1690-1694

Copyright: Kunanusont, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.