Efficaciousness of Sterne 34F-2 strain of Bacillus anthracis vaccine in cattle for anthrax control program in Bangladesh

Live spore Sterne 34F-2 strain of Bacillus anthracis vaccine is being used to control anthrax disease in Bangladesh. After produced this vaccine in Livestock Research Institute (LRI) under the Department of Livestock Services (DLS), it is distributed at the farmers level through district and Upazila Livestock Offices. In these distribution pathways, the vaccine has been transported and stored for a few days in each station. The present study was carried out to evaluate the humoral immune response of the anthrax vaccine and to measure the impact of existing transportation and storage systems on immunity status. For that a total of 60 cattle were randomly selected , divided into three groups and used the vaccines collected from three distribution points. Serum samples were collected before and after the 1st month, 4th month, 7th 10th, and 13th month of vaccination respectively the anthrax antibody level in blood were monitored. The optical density was converted to ELISA units (EU) and used to express the antibody level in the vaccinated animals. It was significantly increased above the protection level (1.00) for a year. Before vaccination, the average ELISA unit of serum sample was 0.18± 0.01, after vaccination it was raised above the protective level (1.00) within one month and continued up to a year. In the chi-square test (95% confidence level), there was no significant difference (p<.05) ELISA unit among the three groups that means no impact on vaccine distribution points on the immunity level of the studied animal. The Sterne 34F-2 strain Bacillus anthracis vaccine has been found to be efficacious to protect animals from anthrax in the rural areas and no significant impact on immune response due to existing transportation and storage facilities.