Efficacy of a quadrivalent vaccine against respiratory diseases caused by BHV-1, PI3V, BVDV and BRSV in experimentally infected calves

The efficacy of a quadrivalent vaccine against viral bovine respiratory diseases (BRD) was assessed in four experimental studies. Calves between 2 and 9 months of age were allocated to one of two treatment groups (n=9–15) and then received either the vaccine or sterile saline in two doses approximately 3 weeks apart. Three to 5 weeks after the second injection, animals were challenged experimentally with one of the viruses, bovine herpes-virus-1 (BHV-1), parainfluenza type-3 virus (PI3V), bovine viral-diarrhoea virus type 1 (BVDV), or bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) and were then monitored for at least 2 weeks. The administration of the vaccine was associated with enhanced antibody response to all four viruses post-challenge, with the reduction of the amount or duration (or both) of virus shedding in the BHV-1, PI3V, BVDV and BRSV studies and with an improvement of some clinical signs in the BHV-1 (nasal discharge, and rectal temperature) and the PI3V studies (abnormal respiration, and depression).