INACTIVATED BOVINE HERPESVIRUS-1 MARKER VACCINES ARE MORE EFFICACIOUSIN REDUCING VIRUS EXCRETION AFTER REACTIVATION THAN A LIVE MARKER VACCINE

A comparative study was carried out to evaluate the efficacy of three bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV1) marker vaccines to reduce the reexcretion of virus after reactivation of latent BHV1. A live gE-negative vaccine , an inactivated gE-negative vaccine and an experimental gD-subunit va ccine were tested in three identical experiments in which cattle, late ntly infected with BHV1, were vaccinated twice before they were treate d with high doses of dexamethansone. Virus excretion after dexamethaso ne treatment was compared with that in BHV1-infected, unvaccinated cat tle which served as controls. All cattle, controls and vaccinees, excr eted virus. However, the inactivated vaccines reduced virus excretion more efficiently than did the live vaccine. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.