Microsoft powerpoint - chlamydiae2

Infections with Chlamydiae can be effectively
eradicated using herd specific autovaccines in
cattle populations
NOLTE, O.*, WEISS, H.-E., & SONNTAG, H.-G.
corresponding author:
Dr. Oliver Nolte
Hygiene Institute, Dept. Hygiene & Medical Microbiology
Im Neuenheimer Feld 324, 69120 Heidelberg/Germany
E-mail: Tel.: +49/6221/567812
Fax.: +49/6221/565627
Third Annual Conference on Vaccine Research
Objective: Therapeutic treatment of dairy cows
infected with Chlamydia psittaci
background
Normally 30-80% of a herd can be infected.
The rate of abortion may reach 30% or more if Chlamydia
infections are common in a herd while the usual rate is below 1 %
The economical loss is estimated at 1000-1500 $ / abort*!
Amongst the clinical manifestations are mastitis, arthritis and
conjunctivitis as well as pneumoniae in calves.
In sheep herds epidemics are common, in cattle populations
epidemics are reported frequently
* calculated as loss of the calf and subsequent loss of milk (30l/d) over a period of at least 4-6 month
Standard treatment (Germany) for Chlamydia infected
antibiotic treatment using tetracycline i.m.
tetracycline sticks deposited in the uterus
uterine flushes using 5% iodine in ethanol
expensive
effectivity varies
Definition: autovaccine or autogenous vaccine
therapeutic vaccine manufactured from a disease causing
pathogenic micro-organism — strain and patient specific
in veterinary medicine often herd or flock specific
therapeutic — treatment of ongoing infections
immunogenic (?) — modulation of the patients immune system.
intended to stimulate the immune system, not to hit the micro-
organism directly—therefore no development of resistance
highly specific, independent of antigenic variability
cheap to manufacture
no governmental approval required
overall amount of dairy cows autovacc
overall amount of dairy cows autovacciinated to treat
nated to treat
chlamydial infect
chlamydial infectiions
8 veterinarians involved
30 herds were treated
ap. 2500 individuals
autovaccinated
route of applicat
of applicatiion
subcutaneous
intravaginal
intranasal
autovaccine placebo
Chlamydia
negative*
Chlamydia
positive*
* as determined using Stamp staining
Σ=48 (out of five different herds)
Autovaccines were prepared* from index case
(i.e. abortion caused by Chlamydia spec.).
procedure
cervical swabs (obtained from herds in which the index case was recorded)
were screened by Stamp staining of inclusion bodies
herds were treated with the herd specific autovaccine four times
(one dose on every 5th day). Randomly chosen Chlamydia
positive cows were examined in detail
cervical swabs were taken from the chosen cows after completion
of autovaccination (i.e., day 28 after 1st dose of autovaccine) to
check for the presence of Chlamydiae
* patent pending DE/PCT/EP
Stamp staining
routine screening method in veterinary diagnostics* to check for the
presence of Chlamydiae
(cervical) swabs are smeared on slides and subsequently stained
using carbolfuchsin (Ziehl`s stain)—1% acetic acid—0.2%
Malachite Green.
both forms of the Chlamydia are stained intensively red whereas
the background is in light green.
Stamp staining is also good for staining of Coxiella and Brucella,
these micro-organisms differ in their morphology and appearance
* one of the methods recommended by the Bundesministerium für
Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Forsten [Ministry of food,
agriculture and forestry] (order BGBl. I S. 1178; September 1999)
Outline autovaccination
Chlamydia positive*
Diagrammatic representation of disease state, immunisation schedule and sampling
of blood. ( ) denotes subcutaneous/intranasal or intravaginal immunisation, ( )
and denotes blood/serum sample
* often suffering from metritis and/or reduced fertility
Results (28 days after start of autovaccina
(28 days after start of autovaccinattion)
subcutaneous
intravaginal
intranasal
autovaccine
Chlamydia
negative*
Chlamydia
positive*
Σ=48 (out of five different herds)
* as determined using Stamp staining
5 groups of animals Σ=48
Chlamydia positive
negative after av:
autovaccine:
Chlamydia positive
negative after pl:
placebo:
Chlamydia negative
negative after av:
autovaccine:
Chlamydia negative
negative after pl:
placebo:
Results:
Serum antibodies against Chlamydia
psittaci antigen in micro complement binding assay
mean antibody titer +S.E.
P<0.05
subcutan (n=19)* intranasal (n=11)** intravaginal (n=9)**
positive control 1:40
negative control <1:10
* belonging to 3 different herds
** belonging to 2 different herds
Conclusions:
Autovaccines seems to be a useful and effective method for
the treatment of Chlamydia infection.
More than 87% of autovaccinated cows were Chlamydia
negative afterwards. The veterinarians reported decline to
normal abortion rate and normal metritis/abortion incidence in
herds treated with the autovaccine.
However, the immunological background remains unknown.
Autovaccines are cheap to manufacture and can be given even
to pregnant cows.
The observed side effects were minor, only after intravaginal
application cows showed an increased sensitivity. No serious
side effects were observed.

Source: http://www.olivernolte.de/talks/ACVR_2000%20Chlamydia%20slides.pdf