J. Kohara et H. Tsunemitsu, Correlation between maternal serum antibodies and protection against bovine rotavirus diarrhea in calves, J VET MED S, 62(2), 2000, pp. 219-221
The correlation between maternal serum antibodies in beef calves at 2 days
old and protection against diarrhea induced by natural bovine rotavirus (BR
V) infection was examined. Virus neutralizing (VN) antibody titers against
BRV in sera from calves that developed diarrhea by BRV infection within 14
days of age (BRV-diarrheal calves) were significantly lower than those from
calves that had no diarrhea. In the BRV-diarrheal calves, a positive corre
lation was found between the VN antibody titers and age of the onset of dia
rrhea. There were negative correlations between the VN antibody titers and
duration of the diarrhea, VN antibody titers and cumulative diarrhea scores
, and the VN antibody titers and duration of virus shedding. These results
suggest that the VN antibody titers against BRV in newborn calf serum could
be an indicator of protection against BRV-induced diarrhea.