Effect of Vaccination on Serotype-Specific Antibody Responses in Infants Administered WC3 Bovine Rotavirus before or after a Natural Rotavirus Infection

In an evaluation of WC3 bovine rotavirus (serotype 6) vaccine in infants, some subjects experienced a natural serotype 1 rotavirus infection before vaccination and others after. Therefore, the effects of both WC3 and natural rotavirus strains as either primary or boosting immunogens on serotype-specific neutralizing antibody responses could bedetermined. After primary natural infection (symptomatic or asymptomatic), neutralizing antibody titers were highest to serotype 1 but were consistently high to serotype 3, and low titers (⩾20) to serotypes 2 and 4 were often detected. Previous vaccination with WC3 had little effect on the magnitude of these responses. In contrast, subjects infected with serotype 1 strains before vaccination experienced large (average, 12-fold) rises in neutralizing antibody to human serotypes 1–4 when vaccinated with WC3. Thus, although WC3 and the natural strains are distinct serotypes, their epitopes were sufficiently similar that reinfection with WC3 could boost neutralizing antibody titers to human serotypes in subjects primed by a previous natural infection.