Epidemiological Investigation For Orf Virus And Immune Evaluation Of The Propolis-adjuvant Inactived Vaccine

Orf, also known as contagious pustular dermatitis, caused by orf virus (ORFV) whichbelonging to Parapoxvirusgenus of Chordopoxvirinae subfamily of poxviridae family, is anacute and highly contagious disease mainly infecting sheep and goats. This highly contagiousdisease was epidemic in many regions of our country. The main hosts of ORFV were sheep,goats, antelope, camels, cattle, dogs, monkeys, rabbits, etc., whilecat, reindeer, serow or someother animals could also be its hosts according to recent reports. More importantly, humancould also be infected with ORFV, especially butchers, farmers and veterinarians for thereasons of their occupations. ORFV had greatly threatened the sheep industry and humanhealth.This test was carried out in ShengTang goat farm which located in FuPing county,Shaanxi Province. Blood samples and cotton swabs were collected from238young dairygoats. Genomic DNA were extracted and detected by a PCR method, which was establishedin our lab. At the same time, one strain of ORFV was isolated from scabs collected from thegoat farm and then used to prepare propolis-adjuvant inactivated vaccine. In order to evaluatethe immune effect,36pregnant goats were vaccinated three times, and blood samples werecollected for separating serum14days after each vaccination, and the titers of neutralizingantibody in serum samples were detected. Morbidities of lambs in immune group and controlwere calculated to evaluate the protective effect for lambs. The results showed that:1.The positive rates of ORFV inblood samples and cotton swabs were23.1%and12.2%respectively, and the double positive rate was1.86%.2.The titers of neutralizing antibody of contorl and experimental group after each timevaccination were1:1.7,1:2.8,1:9.4and1:22.4respectively.3.Morbidities of lambs in vaccinated group and control were26.19%and8.93%respectively.Conclusion: The epidemiology of ORFV in ShengTang farm was accomplished. Thetiters of neutralizing antibody in pregnant goats were significantly higher than control after vaccinated the inactivated vaccine and the morbidity of their lambs was also significantlyreduced. Our results were useful to improve the strategies for preventing and protecting goatsagainst ORFV.