Investigation of the effect of mutual vaccination with pest des petits ruminants and polyvalent foot and mouth disease vaccines on the immune response of sheep.

Background: Pest des petits ruminants (PPRs) and foot and mouth disease (FMD) are two viral infectious diseases affecting sheep dramatically causing great economic losses. Therefore, attention should be directed toward their control, especially through the application of well-designed vaccination schedules with specific potent vaccines.

Aim: Determination of the possibility of sheep vaccination with PPR and FMD vaccines in a mutual schedule.

Methods: Different groups of sheep have vaccinated with live attenuated PPR vaccine and inactivated polyvalent FMD vaccine in a mutual manner (one before the other at weekly intervals or simultaneously) followed by monitoring of the induced immunity to both vaccines using serum neutralization test (SNT) and enzyme linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA).

Results: SNT and ELISA revealed that there was no antagonizing effect of any vaccine on the immune response to the mutual vaccination of sheep to the other where the obtained antibody titers in single vaccinated sheep groups were similar to those in the simultaneous vaccinated group.

Conclusion: Simultaneous vaccination of sheep with PPR and polyvalent FMD vaccine is of applicable benefit saving time, effort, and stress factors on the animals.