THE STUDY OF IMMUNOBIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF THE VACCINE AGAINST OVINE RINDERPEST
Peste des petits ruminants (PPR), also known as ovine rinderpest, is a highly contagious disease affecting small ruminants. Adventitious virus may infect up to 90 percent of livestock, and from 30 to 70 percent of infected animals die. Ovine rinderpest cases are also recorded in Kazakhstan; for the first time the infection was recorded in 2003 in the South Kazakhstan Region. Owing to emergency measures taken by the veterinary service the infection was brought under control. Ovine rinderpest outbreaks were also recorded in the Republic of Tajikistan. The improvement of diagnostics and prevention measures are the key activities in controlling this infection. The technology of manufacturing of the vaccine against ovine rinderpest has been developed in Kazakhstan; the vaccine is produced from the vaccine strain “G45-MK” by lamb kidney cell culture. The research goal was to study the immunobiological properties of the developed vaccine against ovine rinderpest. The immunological potency and safety of the vaccine was studied in sheep and goats having no ovine rinderpest virus-neutralizing antibodies in the blood serum. To test the immunological potency, the vaccine was injected subcutaneously in the doses from 1,000 to 10,000 50% tissue cytopathic doses per animal. It was found that vaccinated animals in 7-14 days had the virus-neutralizing antibodies in the blood serum in titer up to 2 log<sub>2</sub>. The study of blood serum in 21-28 days after vaccination revealed the presence of the virus-neutralizing antibodies in titers 3-4 log<sub>2</sub>, and EIA in titers 1:200-1:800.