Vaccines against Aujeszky's disease: Comparison of efficacy, DNA fingerprints and antibody response to glycoprotein I

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Abstract
The efficacy of two inactivated and three attenuated Aujeszky's disease virus (ADV) vaccines was compared in pigs in a standardised test. After vaccination, excretion of attenuated vaccine viruses was not detected. All vaccines were capable of preventing mortality, but none conferred complete protection against challenge with a virulent strain of ADV 3 months after the first vaccination. After a single vaccination, no large differences in vaccine efficacy were observed. Revaccination markedly enhanced protection; however, with one vaccine this was not the case. The two inactivated vaccines induced quite different levels of neutralizing antibodies. Two vaccine viruses had a wild‐type DNA fingerprint and gave rise to an antibody response to glycoprotein I (gI) of ADV. The three remaining vaccines carried a deletion in the unique short region of the genome. Two of them failed to induce gI‐antibody in pigs. Pigs given the third ‘deleted’ vaccine did not respond uniformly to gI. With regard to control of Aujeszky's disease, efficacious vaccines with a ‘serological’ marker may be preferred in the future.