INVESTIGATING THE SEROLOGICAL RESPONSE AND SAFETY OF BRUCELLA MELITENSIS REV.1 CONJUNCTIVAL VACCINE IN SMALL RUMINANTS

Mass vaccination, which is one of the main control policies, provides herd immunity against infectious diseases. This could contribute to the control of the disease and eventually its eradication. The purpose of this study was to investigate the safety and humoral immune response of Brucella melitensis Rev.1 vaccine before the start of mass vaccination. A total of 741 sheep and goats were vaccinated conjunctivally. No adverse effect was observed after the vaccination of the animals. No abortion was seen in pregnant animals. Vaccine strain was isolated from some milk samples taken from only lactating vaccinated goats. Excretion of the vaccine strain was not intense and long-termed. Post-vaccination immune response was evaluated by serological tests, namely, Rose Bengal Plate Test, Serum Agglutination Test and Complement Fixation Test. One month after vaccination, the immune response was high, and the decrease of antibody titers was the highest four to six months after vaccination by inversely correlated with the age of the vaccinated animals. In conclusion, we observed that Brucella melitensis Rev.1 vaccine, used conjunctivally, was safe enough for the animals, and vaccinated animals had high vaccine-induced immune response.