Study on immunization of waterfowl parvovirus vaccine in goslings

YP Chen , YC Tu, SH Lee, HJ Tsai

Animal Health Research Institute, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan

Abstract

In order to understand the impact of age on the immunization in goslings, 2- and
9-day-old goslings were immunized with attenuated waterfowl parvovirus vaccine and challenged
with virulent goose parvovirus (GPV) at three days post immunization. For 2-day-olds, there were
62.8% and 57.1% mortality rates in the immunized/challenged group and challenged group,
respectively. The titers of the serum neutralization antibodies (SN Abs) against GPV before
challenge of these dead goslings were lower than 2. Nine-day-old goslings had zero and 33.3%
mortality rates in the immunized/challenged group and challenged group, respectively. The titers of
the SN Abs against GPV before challenge of dead goslings were 2-4. We suspect that the mortality
of goslings was related to the titers of SN Abs against GPV. Moreover, according to the results of
PCR, we suspected that immunization in goslings could not prevent infection by GPV. Comparison
between the immunization in 2-day-old and 9-day-old goslings showed that the latter seems to have
had fewer adverse reactions, such as body weight change, GPV infection rate and virus shedding.
According to the results of the study, GPV is endemic on goose farms in Taiwan and stringent
measures to control GPV infection such as immunizing breeder flocks and enhanced biosecurity
and management guidelines are needed.

Keywords: goose parvovirus, immunization, challenge, antibody titers, weight gain.