Viral haemorrhagic disease of rabbits: vaccination and immune response

Abstract

Results are presented for the large-scale use of a tissue vaccine, inactivated with beta-propiolactone and containing aluminium hydroxide adjuvant, against viral haemorrhagic disease of rabbits. The kinetics of haemagglutination-inhibiting antibodies over eighteen months, the response of vaccinated animals to challenge infection with field virus between six and fifteen months after vaccination, the serological response to revaccination, and the immunological mechanisms involved in primary vaccination and revaccination were investigated.